MOA-2010-BLG-353Lb A Possible Saturn Revealed

TL;DR

This paper reports the potential discovery of a Saturn-mass exoplanet through microlensing data analysis, highlighting the importance of archival data and probabilistic modeling in exoplanet detection.

Contribution

It introduces a systematic analysis method for archival microlensing data to identify potential exoplanets that were previously unnoticed.

Findings

Probable Saturn-mass planet orbiting a red dwarf star.

Planet located approximately 6.4 kpc away in the Galactic bulge.

Projected separation of about 1.7 AU from the host star.

Abstract

We report the discovery of a possible planet in microlensing event MOA-2010-BLG-353. This event was only recognised as having a planetary signal after the microlensing event had finished, and following a systematic analysis of all archival data for binary lens microlensing events collected to date. Data for event MOA-2010-BLG-353 were only recorded by the high cadence observations of the OGLE and MOA survey groups. If we make the assumptions that the probability of the lens star hosting a planet of the measured mass ratio is independent of the lens star mass or distance, and that the source star is in the Galactic bulge, a probability density analysis indicates the planetary system comprises a 0.9^{+1.6}_{-0.53} M_{Saturn} mass planet orbiting a 0.18^{+0.32}_{-0.11} M_{sun} red dwarf star, 6.43^{+1.09}_{-1.15} kpc away. The projected separation of the planet from the host star is 1.72^{+0.56}_{-0.48} AU. Under the additional assumption that the source is on the far side of the Galactic bulge, the probability density analysis favours a lens system comprising a slightly lighter planet.