1996/09/09 by B. Paczyński, Bohdan Paczynski, Paczynski, Bohdan
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Cosmology #Dark energy #Dark matter #FOS: Physical sciences #Gravitational microlensing #Hubble's law #Initial mass function #Physics #Planet #Star formation #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Supernova #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9609073
14 pages, 3 figures, latex, uses conf_iap.sty, invited talk at the 12th IAP Colloquium: Variable stars and the astrophysical returns of microlensing surveys, Paris, IAP, July 7-12, 1996
arxiv created 1996/09/09 · openalex publication_date 1996/09/09 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This is a personal review of various issues related to massive photometric and astrometric searches. A complete inventory of variable stars down to almost any magnitude limit will improve our understanding of the stellar evolution and the galactic structure. A search for detached eclipsing binaries will improve the distance scale, the value of the Hubble constant, and the age of the oldest stars. A search for supernovae will help the determination of cosmological parameters Omega and Lambda. A search for microlensing events will provide insight into the stellar mass function, dark matter, and may lead to a discovery of earth-mass planets.