Detection of an exoplanet: Gravitational microlensing

by: Illustration Grégoire Cirade/Novapix
Reference: a-exo99-30082
Date: 2009-07-16

Illustration showing at left the observation of faint light emitted by a distant star, at right, the light of the same star magnified by a gravitational lens. Microlensing occurs when the gravitational field of a star acts like a lens, magnifying the light of a distant background star. Possible planets orbiting the foreground star can cause detectable anomalies in the lensing event light curve.

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