1997/08/03 by K. H. Cook, The MACHO Collaboration, C. Alcock +40
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Scientific Research and Discoveries #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9708017
10 pages, 18 PostScript figures, uses conf_iap.sty. To appear in the Proceedings of the 12th IAP Colloquium "Variable Stars and the Astrophysical Returns of Microlensing Surveys"
arxiv created 1997/08/03 · openalex publication_date 1997/08/03 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2019/12/05 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The MACHO Project monitors millions of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Small Magellanic Cloud and the bulge of the Milky Way searching for the gravitational microlensing signature of baryonic dark matter. This Project has yielded surprising results. An analysis of two years of data monitoring the Large Magellanic Cloud points to ∼ 50% of the mass of the Milky Way's halo in compact objects of ∼ 0.5 M\odot. An analysis of one year of monitoring the bulge has yielded more microlensing than predicted without the invocation of a massive bar or significant disk dark matter. The huge database of light curves created by this search is yielding information on extremely rare types of astrophysical variability as well as providing temporal detail for the study of well known variable astrophysical phenomena. The variable star catalog created from this database is previewed and example light curves are presented.