ESA’s Gaia Observatory continues its astronomical mission to measure the position, distance, and motion of stars (and the positions of orbiting exoplanets) with unprecedented precision. Launched in 2013 with a nominal five-year mission (2014-2019), the mission is scheduled to operate until 2025. Once completed, the mission data will be used to create the most detailed 3D spatial catalog to date, totaling his 2014-2019 period. 1 billion celestial objects including stars, planets, comets, asteroids, and quasars.
Another advantage of this data is that it can predict future microlensing phenomena, according to the research team led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Similar to gravitational lensing, this phenomenon occurs when light from a background light source is deflected and amplified by a foreground object.use information from GaiaIn its third data release (DR3), the team predicted 4500 microlensing events, 1664 of which were unlike anything seen before. These events allow astronomers to conduct useful studies of distant star systems, exoplanets, and other celestial objects.
The team consisted of researchers from Yunnan Observatory, Key Laboratory of Astronomical Structure and Evolution, Astronomy Mega Science Center, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), and Kunming University School of Information Technology. . A preprint of their paper “Predicting Astrometric Microlensing Events from Gaia DR3” was recently published online, and an updated version was published in his November 7th edition. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Gravitational lenses have proven invaluable to astronomers, enabling observational campaigns like the Frontier Fields program.This was composed of venerable hubble space telescope A lens created by a giant galaxy cluster will be used to capture the deepest view of the universe ever, looking at galaxies as they existed about a billion years after the Big Bang.of james webb space telescope continues this tradition, and recently hubble Lens produces even more detailed images of galaxies.
Although similar in principle, microlenses have a wide range of applications, including the detection and study of exoplanets and limiting the population of binary stars, neutron stars, brown dwarfs, and red dwarfs in galaxies. But as lead author Su Jie told his Universe Today in an email, the application will evolve further.
“Using astronomical microlensing, we can accurately measure the mass of a lensed star that is independent of its assumed internal physics. Such direct mass measurements purely account for the influence of the star’s gravity on external objects. It is obtained by observation and is very important for validating theoretical star models. Furthermore, it is not always necessary to measure the lens luminosity, so it is important to Lenses can also be detected.
Similar to gravitational lensing, microlensing techniques rely on fortuitous alignment between massive objects and background sources. Given their importance to astronomers, the ability to predict when these microlensing events will occur is critical.This is the location of ESA Gaia Observatory will appear. For many years, Gaia has collected precise information about the positions, proper motions, and velocities of stars and other celestial bodies in the Milky Way. This information is used to create the most detailed 3D spatial catalog ever created.
To predict future microlensing phenomena, Su Jie and his colleagues GaiaThird data release (DR3). They also conducted mass estimates to determine the magnitude of the lensing event and when and where appropriate alignment will occur between now and 2070. Mr. Su Jie said:
“This information allows us to calculate the future distance in the sky between the lens and the light source as seen from Earth. Using data from Gaia Data Release 3, we estimate that the peak astronomical positioning shift is 0.1 mas. We predict over 4500 astronomical microlensing events. There are 293 lensing stars that can cause 2 or more events, and 5 lensing stars can cause more than 50 events. 1 By detecting many events caused by the lens, we can improve the accuracy of the lens mass.”
The cone search method they used expands the search range for each potential lens star, potentially reducing the chance of missing future events. Furthermore, Su Jie added that the stars and microlensing phenomena they identified could be the subject of follow-up observations by astronomers. hubble, james webb space telescope (JWST), and the proposed Chinese space station telescope (CSST) – Alternative name. Xuantian means “sky survey” in Chinese, and China plans to begin the survey sometime next year.
Details: MNRS