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First Detection of a Gravitational Microlensing Candidate toward the Small Magellanic Cloud

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Published 1997 November 6 • © 1997. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
, , Citation C. Alcock et al 1997 ApJ 491 L11 DOI 10.1086/311053

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Author affiliations

1 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550

2 Center for Particle Astrophysics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720

3 Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Australian National University, Weston, ACT 2611, Australia

4 Department of Physics, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA 95616

5 Departments of Astronomy and Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195

6 Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, West Lafayette, IN 46556

7 Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093

8 Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory, National Optical Astronomy Observatories

9 European Southern Observatory, Karl Schwarzschild Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany

10 Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RH, England

11 Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4M1, Canada

Dates

  1. Received 1997 August 20
  2. Accepted 1997 October 8
  3. Published
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1538-4357/491/1/L11

Abstract

We report the first discovery of a gravitational microlensing candidate toward a new population of source stars, the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The candidate event's light curve shows no variation for 3 yr before an upward excursion lasting ~217 days that peaks around 1997 January 11 at a magnification of ~2.1. Microlensing events toward the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Galactic bulge have allowed important conclusions to be reached on the stellar and dark matter content of the Milky Way. The SMC gives a new line of sight through the Milky Way and is expected to prove useful in determining the flattening of the Galactic halo.

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10.1086/311053