The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment

帕钦斯基，波丹普林斯顿大学，AST-9820314博士。帕钦斯基及其合作者将继续并扩大非常成功的光学引力透镜实验(OGLE)，以监测数百万颗朝向银河系凸起和麦哲伦星云的恒星，目标是探测和分析引力微透镜事件。该合作项目涉及华沙大学天文台的天文学家和他们在智利拉斯坎帕纳斯天文台的1.3米望远镜。他们将升级CCD摄像机，安装8K x 8K马赛克，并在数据流中安装图像减影软件。这些改进将把数据速率和微透镜探测提高一个数量级，达到每年500多次，并将光度测量的精度提高至少两倍。OGLE项目使用标准的BVI测光频带通行证，并产生大量的可变星，可用于各种天体物理项目的分析。特别令人感兴趣的是关于星系结构和恒星群的问题，例如确定光学厚度到微透镜事件，以验证银河系内质量分布的模型，以及校准河外距离尺度。OGLE项目在实际可行的情况下尽快向公众提供数据，以最大限度地发挥他们和其他人从调查中获得的科学成果。

Paczynski, BohdanPrinceton University AST-9820314Dr. Paczynski and collaborators will continue and expand the very successful Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) to monitor millions of stars towards the Galactic Bulge and the Magellanic Clouds, with the goal of detecting and analyzing gravitational microlensing events. The collaborative project involves astronomers at the Warsaw University Observatory and their 1.3-meter telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. They will upgrade the CCD camera to install an 8K x 8K mosaic and will implement image subtraction software in the data flow. These improvements will increase the data rate, and microlensing detections, by an order of magnitude, to more than 500 events per year, and increase the accuracy of the photometry by a factor of at least two. The OGLE project uses standard BVI photometric bandpasses, and yields vast numbers of variable stars which can be analyzed for a variety of astrophysical projects. Of particular interest are issues in galactic structure and stellar populations such as a determination of the optical depth to microlensing events to verify models of the mass distribution in the inner galaxy, and the calibration of the extragalactic distance scale. The OGLE project makes data available to the public as soon as is practically feasible, to maximize the science to come from the survey by themselves and others.