So, you
think you know the Milky Way? Well you don’t.
This new Milky Way map from NASA
displays the exo-planets we’ve discovered so far, counting the newly confirmed
exoplanet 13,000 light years away from Earth, catchily-named
OGLE-2014-BLG-0124L.
It’s about half as far away as the farthest exoplanet ever
found, one of only a few handfuls to be discovered beyond Kepler’s range.
The majority
of exoplanets that have been discovered were the work of the Kepler, but the
very furthest ones that have been found — like this recent one — owe their
discovery to microlensing methods.
Like gravitational lensing, where gravity
bends space and light to generate a natural “zoom lens” that lets us
see further afield, microlensing also makes use of certainly occurring bends in
space.
bends space and light to generate a natural “zoom lens” that lets us
see further afield, microlensing also makes use of certainly occurring bends in
space.
In microlensing, however, that enlargement procedure is triggered by a
fainter star passing in front of a more distant star, making the space around
the distant star more easily observable.
fainter star passing in front of a more distant star, making the space around
the distant star more easily observable.
