U.S.-South Africa Planning Visit: Use of a Gravitational Microlensing Technique to Search for Extra-Solar Planetary Systems

该奖项支持加州利弗莫尔的班尼特博士和Rhie博士计划访问南非，以便在博伊登天文台（橙子自由州大学拥有）检查该望远镜，评估其是否适合列入一个项目，利用位于南半球的光学望远镜全球微透镜后续网络搜索太阳系外行星。 还将讨论未来的合作研究机会。 主要调查人员将会见开普敦大学天文系和理论物理与天体物理研究所的Peter Martinez博士、南非天文台台长Robert Stobie博士以及橙子自由州大学的成员。

This award supports a planning visit by Drs. Bennett and Rhie, from Livermore, California, to travel to South Africa for the purpose of examining the telescope at the Boyden Observatory (owned by the University of the Orange Free State) to assess its suitability for inclusion in a project to search for extra-solar planets using a global microlensing follow-up network of optical telescopes located in the Southern Hemisphere. Future collaborative research opportunities will also be discussed. The principal investigators will meet with Dr. Peter Martinez, Department of Astronomy and Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics at the University of Cape Town, Dr. Robert Stobie, the Director of the South African Astronomical Observatory, and with members of the University of the Orange Free State.