Journal article
Finding the Brightest Galactic Bulge Microlensing Events with a Small Aperture Telescope and Image Subtraction
Acta astronomica, Vol.59(3), pp.255-272
01/01/2009
Abstract
Following the suggestion of Gould and Depoy (1998) we investigate the feasibility of studying the brightest microlensing events towards the Galactic bulge using a small aperture (approximate to 10 cm) telescope. We used one of the HAT telescopes to obtain 151 exposures spanning 88 nights in 2005 of an 8.degrees 4 x 8.degrees 4 FOV centered on (1, b) = (2.85, -5.00). We reduced the data using image subtraction software. We find that such a search method can effectively contribute to monitoring bright microlensing events, as was advocated. Comparing this search method to the existing ones we find a dedicated bulge photometric survey of this nature would fulfill a significant niche at excellent performance and rather low cost. We obtain matches to 7 microlensing events listed in the 2005 OGLE archives. We find several other light Curves whose fits closely resemble microlensing events. Unsurprisingly, many periodic variable stars and miscellaneous variable stars are also detected in our data, and we estimate approximately 50% of these are new discoveries. We conclude by briefly proposing Small Aperture Microlensing Survey, which would monitor the Galactic bulge around the clock to provide dense coverage of the highest magnification microlensing events.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Finding the Brightest Galactic Bulge Microlensing Events with a Small Aperture Telescope and Image Subtraction
- Creators
- D. M. Nataf - The Ohio State UniversityK. Z. Stanek - The Ohio State UniversityG. A. Bakos - Harvard Smithsonian Ctr Astrophys, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Acta astronomica, Vol.59(3), pp.255-272
- Publisher
- COPERNICUS FOUNDATION POLISH ASTRONOMY
- ISSN
- 0001-5237
- Number of pages
- 18
- Grant note
- NEG04GN74G; NNX08AF23G / NASA; National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) SAO IRD
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 01/01/2009
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy
- Record Identifier
- 9984701726202771
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