Flickers From Far-Off Planets

摘要

The telescopes of the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) are thousands of kilometers from their hemispheric counterparts in Australia arid South America. But two and a half years ago, SAAO's John Menzies joined a project that turned this geographic isolation to advantage. Called PLANET--for Probing Lensing Anomalies Network--the project monitors stars in the Milky Way's crowded central bulge for apparent brightenings that could indicate another, dimmer star with a retinue of planets drifting across the line of sight. Like a set of lenses passing in front of a candle, the system's complicated gravitational field would bend light rays from the bulge star and make it seem to flash and dim.