MOA-2010-BLG-523: "Failed Planet" = RS CVn Star

A. Gould (OSU); J. C. Yee (OSU); I. A. Bond (Massey U.); A. Udalski; (Warsaw Obs.); C. Han (Chungbuk Nat. U.); U. G. Jorgensen (Niels Bohr Inst.),; J. Greenhill (U. of Tasmania); Y. Tsapras (LCOGT); M. H. Pinsonneault (OSU),; T. Bensby (Lund Obs.); and W. Allen; L. A. Almeida; M. Bos; G. W. Christie,; D. L. DePoy; Subo Dong; B. S. Gaudi; L.-W. Hung; F. Jablonski; C.-U. Lee; J.; McCormick; D. Moorhouse; J. A. Munoz; T. Natusch; M. Nola; R. W. Pogge; J.; Skowron; G. Thornley (The uFUN Collaboration); F. Abe; D. P. Bennett; C. S.; Botzler; P. Chote; M. Freeman; A. Fukui; K. Furusawa; P. Harris; Y. Itow; C.; H. Ling; K. Masuda; Y. Matsubara; N. Miyake; K. Ohnishi; N. J. Rattenbury,; To. Saito; D. J. Sullivan; T. Sumi; D. Suzuki; W. L. Sweatman; P. J.; Tristram; K. Wada; P. C. M. Yock; (The MOA Collaboration); M. K. Szymanski,; I. Soszynski; M. Kubiak; R. Poleski; K. Ulaczyk; G. Pietrzynski; L.; Wyrzykowski (The OGLE Collaboration); K. A. Alsubai; V. Bozza; P. Browne; M.; J. Burgdorf; S. Calchi Novati; P. Dodds; M. Dominik; F. Finet; T. Gerner; S.; Hardis; K. Harpsoe; F. V. Hessman; T. C. Hinse; M. Hundertmark; N. Kains; E.; Kerins; C. Liebig; L. Mancini; M. Mathiasen; M. T. Penny; S. Proft; S.; Rahvar; D. Ricci; K. C. Sahu; G. Scarpetta; S. Schafer; F. Schonebeck; C.; Snodgrass; J. Southworth; J. Surdej; J. Wambsganss (The MiNDSTEp Consortium),; R. A. Street; K. Horne; D. M. Bramich; I. A. Steele (The RoboNet; Collaboration); M. D. Albrow; E. Bachelet; V. Batista; T. G. Beatty; J.-P.; Beaulieu; C. S. Bennett; R. Bowens-Rubin; S. Brillant; J. A. R. Caldwell; A.; Cassan; A. A. Cole; E. Corrales; C. Coutures; S. Dieters; D. Dominis Prester,; J. Donatowicz; P. Fouque; C. B. Henderson; D. Kubas; J.-B Marquette; R.; Martin; J. W. Menzies; B. Shappee; A. Williams; J. van Saders; M. Zub (The; PLANET Collaboration)

arXiv:1210.6045·astro-ph.SR·June 11, 2015

MOA-2010-BLG-523: "Failed Planet" = RS CVn Star

A. Gould (OSU), J. C. Yee (OSU), I. A. Bond (Massey U.), A. Udalski, (Warsaw Obs.), C. Han (Chungbuk Nat. U.), U. G. Jorgensen (Niels Bohr Inst.),, J. Greenhill (U. of Tasmania), Y. Tsapras (LCOGT), M. H. Pinsonneault (OSU),, T. Bensby (Lund Obs.), and W. Allen, L. A. Almeida

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TL;DR

This paper reveals that the short-term deviations in a microlensing event, initially thought to indicate a planet, are actually caused by an RS CVn star in the Galactic bulge, confirmed through spectroscopy.

Contribution

It is the first spectroscopically confirmed RS CVn star in the Galactic bulge, clarifying the nature of microlensing deviations previously attributed to a planet.

Findings

01

Deviations in the microlensing lightcurve are due to stellar variability, not a planetary companion.

02

Spectroscopic analysis confirmed the source as an RS CVn star.

03

This discovery prevents misinterpretation of microlensing signals as exoplanets.

Abstract

The Galactic bulge source MOA-2010-BLG-523S exhibited short-term deviations from a standard microlensing lightcurve near the peak of an Amax ~ 265 high-magnification microlensing event. The deviations originally seemed consistent with expectations for a planetary companion to the principal lens. We combine long-term photometric monitoring with a previously published high-resolution spectrum taken near peak to demonstrate that this is an RS CVn variable, so that planetary microlensing is not required to explain the lightcurve deviations. This is the first spectroscopically confirmed RS CVn star discovered in the Galactic bulge.

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