Tag

Microlensing

All articles tagged with #microlensing

science22 hours ago•6 min saved

Gaia pins down a free-floating Saturn-mass world wandering the Milky Way

A Saturn-mass object (~0.22 Jupiter masses) measured via gravitational microlensing with Gaia parallax appears unbound to a star (or on a very wide orbit), about 3.05 kiloparsecs away. This supports population estimates that free-floating or very wide-orbit planets could outnumber stars by roughly 20 to 1, though uncertainties and model differences remain. The result is based on a single event, and future surveys like NASA's Roman Space Telescope will build a larger, clearer census, while ongoing work debates the mass-function shape at lower masses.

via Space Daily|

#free-floating-planets #gaia #microlensing

science12 days ago•13 min saved

Milky Way may host trillions of rogue planets, far outnumbering stars

NASA's nine-year microlensing study suggests about 20 planetary-mass objects per star—free-floating or in very wide orbits—potentially placing the Milky Way in the trillions of rogue planets, though the figure is model-based with broad uncertainty and not a direct census. The results favor many low-mass wanderers rather than giants, and future observations with the Roman Space Telescope are expected to sharpen the census and mass distribution.

via Space Daily|

#microlensing #milky-way #moa

space22 days ago•11 min saved

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope: Hubble’s mirror, sky-wide view to chase dark energy and distant worlds

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will launch on Aug 30, 2026 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy to the Sun–Earth L2 point, using a 2.4-meter mirror with a sky-wide field of view about 100 times larger than Hubble’s to map dark energy across a billion galaxies and hunt for exoplanets via microlensing, with a coronagraph tech demonstrator to pave the way for direct imaging of distant worlds.

via Space Daily|

#dark-energy #exoplanets #microlensing

space1 month ago•11 min saved

Milky Way harbors trillions of wandering planets, study shows

A nine-year microlensing survey estimates roughly 21 planet-mass objects per star in the Milky Way, implying trillions of wandering planets that drift without a sun — most are low-mass and likely ejected from their birth systems. The result revises earlier claims of a Jupiter-mass excess and highlights a population dominated by small bodies. Future missions like NASA’s Roman Space Telescope and wide-field ground surveys will test and refine this census, but the measurement carries substantial uncertainty (roughly 8–44 per star) and depends on detecting brief microlensing events.

via Space Daily|

#astronomy #exoplanets #free-floating-planets

science1 month ago•11 min saved

First Rogue Planet Mass Measured Confirms Galactic Population of Free-Floaters

Astronomers using a microlensing event observed from Earth and Gaia have measured both the mass and distance of a rogue planet about 9,800 light-years away, finding it Saturn-mass and confirming that the Milky Way hosts billions to possibly trillions of such starless worlds; the result leverages mass-distance measurements previously difficult for rogue planets and points to future surveys by the Roman Space Telescope to uncover many more.

via Space Daily|

#exoplanets #gaia #microlensing

space1 month ago•15 min saved

Roman Space Telescope could census exoplanets across the galaxy in one mission

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, slated for launch on August 30, 2026, could detect tens to hundreds of thousands of exoplanet signals (roughly 60k–200k transiting planets, with ~100k often cited) via microlensing toward the Galactic bulge and high-cadence transit monitoring, creating a galaxy-wide planetary census rather than a simple list of confirmed worlds. Many detections will be planet candidates needing follow-up; the mission aims to map how planet populations vary with distance from the galactic center and environment, complementing Kepler and other missions. Roman features a 2.4-meter mirror, a wide field of view, a 300-megapixel infrared camera, and will operate from the Sun–Earth L2 point, including a coronagraph demonstration for direct-light studies.

via Space Daily|

#exoplanets #galactic-bulge #microlensing

space1 month ago•104 min saved

Einstein-powered microlensing uncovers a distant exoplanet in TESS data

NASA's TESS has detected Gaia23bra b using gravitational microlensing—a method based on Einstein's general relativity—marking a rare microlensing planet found in TESS data. Hints first appeared in Gaia data in 2023; Gaia23bra b weighs about 1.6 Jupiter masses and orbits an orange-dwarf star roughly 40,000 light-years away, far beyond TESS's typical transit range. This discovery shows microlensing can reveal planets that transit methods miss and foreshadows Roman Space Telescope-led microlensing surveys, which could uncover many more such worlds.

via Space|

#exoplanets #gaia23bra-b #general-relativity

science1 month ago•41 min saved

Milky Way’s Core Revealed by Euclid, Hinting at a Galaxy Teeming with Exoplanets

The European Space Agency’s Euclid telescope captured nine visible-light images of the Milky Way’s center over 26 hours, revealing about 60 million stars in a patch the size of a full Moon; although built to study dark matter and dark energy, its microlensing observations could map tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of exoplanets across the galaxy, signaling a new era of exoplanet discovery alongside other space telescopes.

via Good News Network|

#dark-matter-and-dark-energy #euclid-telescope #exoplanets

space1 month ago•5 min saved

Euclid Captures the Milky Way's Crowded Core in Unprecedented Detail

The European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope produced the largest, most detailed visible-light image of the Milky Way’s center—the galactic bulge—showing more than 60 million stars in a mosaic of nine pointings. While no new microlensing events were identified during the 26-hour campaign, the data will enable precise mass measurements of known exoplanets and serve as a reference archive for future missions like NASA’s Roman telescope, supporting deeper exoplanet studies, brown dwarfs, binary stars, and galactic dust research.

via WIRED|

#euclid-telescope #exoplanets #galactic-bulge

science2 months ago•4 min saved

Euclid Captures Milky Way’s Crowded Core in Record-Setting Visible-Light Mosaic

The European Space Agency's Euclid space telescope produced the largest high‑resolution visible-light image of the Milky Way’s bright center—a nine‑exposure mosaic covering a region larger than the Moon and capturing about 60 million stars over 26 hours; color was added from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. While it won’t directly reveal new exoplanets, the data will help microlensing measurements weigh known and future planets and advance studies of dark matter and dark energy.

via ScienceAlert|

#astronomy #euclid-space-telescope #exoplanets

space2 months ago•8 min saved

Euclid’s Milky Way Preview Boosts Roman’s Galactic Bulge Survey

ESA’s Euclid captured a Milky Way core snapshot to precede NASA’s Roman Space Telescope’s deep Galactic Bulge survey. By adding Euclid’s one-day preview to Roman’s planned observations, scientists will extend the survey window, improve Milky Way mapping, and enhance the detection of microlensing events that can reveal exoplanets and wandering stellar-mass black holes.

via NASA (.gov)|

#black-holes #euclid #microlensing

space2 months ago•97 min saved

Milky Way's Core Captured: Euclid Unveils 60 Million Stars and 50 Exoplanet Clues

ESA’s Euclid telescope spent 26 hours in 2025 image‑capturing the Milky Way’s galactic bulge, yielding the largest high‑resolution visible-light image of the region with about 60 million stars and 51 known exoplanet systems. The dataset will help microlensing searches for planets—potentially revealing ice giants at wide orbits—and will serve as a time reference for past and future missions like the Roman Space Telescope, while advancing studies of stellar motions and galactic dust.

via Space|

#euclid #exoplanets #galactic-bulge

space2 months ago•3 min saved

Euclid reveals 60 million stars in unprecedented Milky Way center view

ESA’s Euclid telescope produced a 26‑hour mosaic of the Milky Way’s bulge, unveiling more than 60 million stars in the central region and enabling precise stellar motions to improve exoplanet detection via microlensing; the work complements NASA’s upcoming Roman telescope, which is expected to find about 1,500 microlensing planets and could push the galactic exoplanet count beyond 100,000.

via The Guardian|

#euclid-telescope #exoplanets #galactic-bulge

space2 months ago•7 min saved

Euclid captures the Milky Way’s crowded heart to weigh exoplanets

ESA's Euclid produced the largest, most detailed visible-light image of the Milky Way's central bulge, cataloging over 60 million stars in a nine-pointing mosaic captured in ~26 hours. The view enables microlensing studies to detect and measure exoplanets in our galaxy and will serve as a past/future time reference for the Roman telescope; the data already include hosts of known cold exoplanets such as OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb and OGLE-2013-BLG-341Lb.

via European Space Agency|

#euclid #exoplanets #galactic-center

space2 months ago•7 min saved

Moon-Mass Primordial Black Hole Hinted by Stellar Microlensing Event

Astronomers analyzing a 2019 microlensing flare of a star in the Large Magellanic Cloud say the signal is best explained by a moon-mass primordial black hole—Phoebe—likely in the Milky Way's dark matter halo about 60,000 light-years away. While a rogue exoplanet could cause similar lensing, the PBH explanation is favored and, if confirmed, would illuminate dark matter and early-universe physics and spur high-cadence microlensing surveys with the Roman and Vera Rubin observatories. Some related analyses (e.g., Andromeda PBH candidates) have contested the PBH interpretation, so confirmation will require more sensitive observations.

via ScienceAlert|

#dark-matter-halo #decam-ampm-survey #large-magellanic-cloud