Gravitational Microlensing Results from MACHO
Publication information:
W. Sutherland, C. Alcock, R. Allsman, T. Axelrod, D. Bennett, S. Chan, K. Cook, K. Freeman, K. Griest, S. Marshall, S. Perlmutter, B. Peterson, M. Pratt, P. Quinn, A. Rodgers, and C. Stubbs. 1995. “Gravitational Microlensing Results from MACHO”. Nuclear Physics B Proceedings Supplements, 38, Pp. 379. doi:10.1016/0920-5632(94)00772-N
Abstract
We provide a status report on our search for dark matter in our Galaxy in the form of massive compact halo objects (MACHOs), using gravitational microlensing of background stars. This search uses a very large CCD camera on the dedicated 1.27m telescope at Mt.~Stromlo, Australia, and has been taking data for 2 years. At present, we have analysed data for 8 million stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud over 1 year, resulting in one strong candidate event and two lower-amplitude candidates. We have also analysed 5 million stars in the Galactic Bulge for 0.5 years, yielding approximately 27 microlensing events.