CIERA Special Seminar: Wei Zhu, "Detection of a 1 Earth-mass Planet at 1 AU around a Brown Dwarf"

Wei Zhu (Ohio State)

Host: Fred Rasio

Detection of a 1 Earth-mass Planet at 1 AU around a Brown Dwarf

We report the discovery of a 1 Earth-mass planet in a 1 AU orbit around a brown dwarf host using the microlensing parallax method (arXiv:1703.08548). This is the third published planet from the on-going Spitzer microlensing program. I will first explain the principle behind the microlensing parallax method and, in particular, why it can measure the masses in a model independent way. Then I will present some significant and unique discoveries from the Spitzer microlensing program, and discuss our future plans. The status of the K2 microlensing program (K2 campaign 9) and its scientific potential will also be discussed.

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