We describe observations carried out by the MOA group of the Galactic bulge during 2000 that were designed to detect efficiently gravitational microlensing of faint stars in which the magnification ...is high and/or of short duration. These events are particularly useful for studies of extrasolar planets and faint stars. Approximately 17 deg2 were monitored at a sampling rate of up to six times per night. The images were analysed in real time using a difference imaging technique. 20 microlensing candidates were detected, of which eight were alerted to the microlensing community whilst in progress. Approximately half of the candidates had high magnifications (≳10), at least one had very high magnification (≳50), and one exhibited a clear parallax effect. The details of these events are reported here, together with details of the on-line difference imaging technique. Some nova-like events were also observed and these are described, together with one asteroid.
We present the first example of binary microlensing for which the parameter measurements can be verified (or contradicted) by future Doppler observations. This test is made possible by a confluence ...of two relatively unusual circumstances. First, the binary lens is bright enough (I = 15.6) to permit Doppler measurements. Second, we measure not only the usual seven binary-lens parameters, but also the 'microlens parallax' (which yields the binary mass) and two components of the instantaneous orbital velocity. Thus, we measure, effectively, six 'Kepler+1' parameters (two instantaneous positions, two instantaneous velocities, the binary total mass, and the mass ratio). Since Doppler observations of the brighter binary component determine five Kepler parameters (period, velocity amplitude, eccentricity, phase, and position of periapsis), while the same spectroscopy yields the mass of the primary, the combined Doppler + microlensing observations would be overconstrained by 6 + (5 + 1) -- (7 + 1) = 4 degrees of freedom. This makes possible an extremely strong test of the microlensing solution. We also introduce a uniform microlensing notation for single and binary lenses, define conventions, summarize all known microlensing degeneracies, and extend a set of parameters to describe full Keplerian motion of the binary lenses.
Since 1995, more than 500 exoplanets have been detected using different techniques, of which 12 were detected with gravitational microlensing. Most of these are gravitationally bound to their host ...stars. There is some evidence of free-floating planetary-mass objects in young star-forming regions, but these objects are limited to massive objects of 3 to 15 Jupiter masses with large uncertainties in photometric mass estimates and their abundance. Here, we report the discovery of a population of unbound or distant Jupiter-mass objects, which are almost twice (1.8(+1.7)(-0.8)) as common as main-sequence stars, based on two years of gravitational microlensing survey observations towards the Galactic Bulge. These planetary-mass objects have no host stars that can be detected within about ten astronomical units by gravitational microlensing. However, a comparison with constraints from direct imaging suggests that most of these planetary-mass objects are not bound to any host star. An abrupt change in the mass function at about one Jupiter mass favours the idea that their formation process is different from that of stars and brown dwarfs. They may have formed in proto-planetary disks and subsequently scattered into unbound or very distant orbits.
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Astronomical spectrographs analyse light emitted by the Sun, stars, galaxies and other objects in the Universe, and have been used in astronomy since the early nineteenth century. This book provides ...a comprehensive account of spectrographs from an historical perspective, from their theory and development over the last two hundred years, to the recent advances of the early twenty-first century. The author combines the theoretical principles behind astronomical spectrograph design with their historical development. Spectrographs of all types are considered, with prism, grating or grism dispersing elements. Included are Cassegrain, coudé, prime focus, échelle, fibre-fed, ultraviolet, nebular, objective prism, multi-object instruments and those which are ground-based, on rockets and balloons or in space. The book contains several tables listing the most significant instruments, around 900 references, and over 150 images, making it an indispensable reference for professional astronomers, graduate students, advanced amateur astronomers, and historians of science.
We report 1212 radial-velocity (RV) measurements obtained in the years 2009–2013 using an iodine cell for the spectroscopic binary ν Octantis (K1 III/IV). This system (
$a_{\rm \scriptscriptstyle ...bin} \sim$
2.6 au, P ∼ 1050 d) is conjectured to have a Jovian planet with a semimajor axis half that of the binary host. The extreme geometry only permits long-term stability if the planet is in a retrograde orbit. Whilst the reality of the planet (P ∼ 415 d) remains uncertain, other scenarios (stellar variability or apsidal motion caused by a yet unobserved third star) continue to appear substantially less credible based on cross-correlation function bisectors, line-depth ratios and many other independent details. If this evidence is validated but the planet is disproved, the claims of other planets using RVs will be seriously challenged. We also describe a significant revision to the previously published RVs and the full set of 1437 RVs now encompasses nearly 13 yr. The sensitive orbital dynamics allow us to constrain the 3D architecture with a broad prior probability distribution on the mutual inclination, which with posterior samples obtained from an N-body Markov chain Monte Carlo is found to be
$152{^{\circ}_{.}}5\pm^{0.7}_{0.6}$
. None of these samples are dynamically stable beyond 106 yr. However, a grid search around the best-fitting solution finds a region that has many models stable for 107 yr, and includes one model within 1σ that is stable for at least 108 yr. The planet's exceptional nature demands robust independent verification and makes the theoretical understanding of its formation a worthy challenge.
New astrometric–spectroscopic orbital solutions for the single-line K-giant binaries β Reticuli (P≈ 5.2 yr, e= 0.3346 ± 0.0004) and ν Octantis (P≈ 2.9 yr, e= 0.2358 ± 0.0003) have been derived based ...on high-precision spectroscopic radial velocities (RVs) and the Hipparcos astrometry. For the case of ν Oct, the simultaneous solution is particularly robust and an inclination of i= 70.8 ± 0.9° has been derived. This is one of the most precise inclinations yet calculated based on a spectroscopic solution and the Hipparcos astrometry. We have also discovered low-amplitude periodic behaviour in the residuals of the orbital solution for ν Oct. This RV perturbation has a semi-amplitude of 50 m s−1 and a 418-d period which is coherent over several years. The RV curve of the perturbation is apparently in resonance with that of the binary: every second maximum of the binary coincides with every fifth minimum of the perturbation, hence the periods have the simple ratio 5:2. The possible causes of such a perturbation are rotational modulation of surface phenomenon, pulsations or an orbiting body. We have assessed these alternatives in terms of the suspected photometric stability (Hp= 3.8981 ± 0.0004), a lack of evidence of other RV periodicities, no correlation of cross-correlation function bisectors with the residual velocities, no compelling evidence of wavelength dependency for the amplitude or relative phase of the perturbation, our bounds on the rotational period of the primary star and the need for long-lived relatively fixed surface features. The results of these analyses lack consistency with both rotational modulation and pulsations and so imply that a planetary mass is a realistic cause. The planet hypothesis, however, is strongly constrained and challenged by our precise binary orbit. The hypothetical planet would have an orbit (e≈ 0.1, a3≈ 1.2 au) about mid-way between the stars whose periastron distance is only 1.9 au. This orbit, supposedly in resonance with the binary system, appears to be highly unlikely based on current planet formation and orbit-stability expectations. Without knowing the cause of the perturbation, we cannot be certain if the suspected RV and hence period resonance are merely coincidental or not. Establishing the true cause of the perturbation requires renewed observation of the system, re-assessment of the possible resonance if this is redetected and the acquisition of similar and additional precise diagnostic parameters with respect to each of the possible causative mechanisms.
Searches for extrasolar planets have uncovered an astonishing diversity of planetary systems, yet the frequency of solar system analogs remains unknown. The gravitational microlensing planet search ...method is potentially sensitive to multiple-planet systems containing analogs of all the solar system planets except Mercury. We report the detection of a multiple-planet system with microlensing. We identify two planets with masses of ~0.71 and ~0.27 times the mass of Jupiter and orbital separations of ~2.3 and ~4.6 astronomical units orbiting a primary star of mass ~0.50 solar mass at a distance of ~1.5 kiloparsecs. This system resembles a scaled version of our solar system in that the mass ratio, separation ratio, and equilibrium temperatures of the planets are similar to those of Jupiter and Saturn. These planets could not have been detected with other techniques; their discovery from only six confirmed microlensing planet detections suggests that solar system analogs may be common.
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ABSTRACT
This paper presents an orbital analysis of six southern single‐lined spectroscopic binary systems. The systems selected were shown to have circular or nearly circular orbits (e < 0.1) from ...earlier published solutions of only moderate precision. The purpose was to obtain high‐precision orbital solutions in order to investigate the presence of small non‐Keplerian velocity effects in the data and hence the reality of the small eccentricities found for most of the stars.
The Hercules spectrograph and 1‐m McLellan telescope at Mt John Observatory, New Zealand, were used to obtain over 450 CCD spectra between 2004 October and 2007 August. Radial velocities were obtained by cross‐correlation. These data were used to achieve high‐precision orbital solutions for all the systems studied, sometimes with solutions up to about 50 times more precise than those from the earlier literature. However, the precision of the solutions is limited in some cases by the rotational velocity or chromospheric activity of the stars.
The data for the six binaries analysed here are combined with those for six stars analysed earlier by Komonjinda, Hearnshaw and Ramm. We have performed tests using the prescription of Lucy on all 12 binaries, and conclude that, with one exception, none of the small eccentricities found by fitting Keplerian orbits to the radial‐velocity data can be supported. Instead we conclude that small non‐Keplerian effects, which are clearly detectable for six of our stars, make impossible the precise determination of spectroscopic binary orbital eccentricities for many late‐type stars to better than about 0.03 in eccentricity, unless the systematic perturbations are also carefully modelled. The magnitudes of the non‐Keplerian velocity variations are given quantitatively.
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