Though free-floating planets (FFPs) that have been ejected from their natal star systems may outpopulate their bound counterparts in the terrestrial-mass range, they remain one of the least explored exoplanet […]
microlensing
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Systematic KMTNet Planetary Anomaly Search. XI. Complete Sample of 2016 Sub-Prime Field Planets
Following Shin et al. (2023b), which is a part of the Systematic KMTNet Planetary Anomaly Search series (i.e., a search for planets in the 2016 KMTNet prime fields), we conduct […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Exoplanet Occurrence Rates From Microlensing Surveys
The number of exoplanets detected using gravitational microlensing technique is currently larger than 200, which enables population studies.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Europa, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Constraints On Sub-terrestrial Free-floating Planets From Subaru Microlensing Oobservations
The abundance of protoplanetary bodies ejected from their parent star system is presently poorly-constrained. With only two existing optical observations of interstellar objects in the 108−1010 kg mass range and […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Terrestrial and Neptune Mass Free-Floating Planet Candidates From The MOA-II 9-year Galactic Bulge Survey
We report the discoveries of low-mass free-floating planet (FFP) candidates from the analysis of 2006-2014 MOA-II Galactic bulge survey data.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Detecting Multi-Planetary Systems with Gravitational Microlensing and the Roman Space Telescope
It is plausible that most of the Stars in the Milky Way (MW) Galaxy, like the Sun, consist of planetary systems, instead of a single planet. Out of the estimately […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Neptune, Status Report
Terrestrial And Neptune Mass Free-floating Planet Candidates From The MOA-II 9-year Galactic Bulge Survey
We report the discoveries of low-mass free-floating planet (FFP) candidates from the analysis of 2006-2014 MOA-II Galactic bulge survey data.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Free-floating or wide-orbit? Keck Adaptive-optics Observations Reveal No Host Stars Near Free-Floating Planet Candidates
Recent detections of extremely short-timescale microlensing events imply the existence of a large population of Earth- to Neptune-mass planets that appear to have no host stars.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Microlensing Due To Free-Floating Moon-Planet Systems
Gravitational microlensing is a powerful method for detecting and characterizing free-floating planetary-mass objects (FFPs).
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets
Microlensing Discovers Extrasolar Planet in Habitable Zone
We used Keck adaptive optics observations to identify the first planet discovered by microlensing to lie in or near the habitable zone. The planet is at projected separation $r_\perp=1.1\pm 0.1\,$AU […]