[ExI] Scientists Find Solar System Like Ours

[Amara Graps]

Stuart:
>I am curious, could microlensing be performed with a galaxy aligned in
>the background instead of another star? Seems to me that that would
>greatly increase the technique's usefulness.

My guess is that one needs a point source, not an extended source, in
order to extract the events cleanly from the photometric light curve.
Look at Figures 1 and 2 of the paper; there are five identifiable
(clean) features of the light curve; some of which I think could
get smeared if the source were extended. But this is just my guess.
Thanks for the Valentines Smooch!

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Amara Graps, PhD      www.amara.com
Research Scientist, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Boulder, Colorado