What specific alignment causes a signal detected via Gravitational Microlensing?
Answer
A foreground star system passing directly in front of a more distant background star
Gravitational Microlensing occurs when a foreground star system aligns with a background star, causing the foreground system's gravity to bend and magnify the distant star's light.
Related Questions
What is the primary cosmic imbalance making exoplanet detection inherently difficult?What phenomenon does the Radial Velocity method utilize to detect a star's motion caused by an orbiting planet?What orbital geometry is required for the Radial Velocity method to be most effective?How does the Transit Method primarily detect an exoplanet?What specific physical characteristic of a planet can be calculated using the depth of dimming observed during a transit?What type of movement does the Astrometry method precisely measure to infer a planet's presence?Which method is ideally suited for detecting planets in orbits oriented nearly face-on to Earth?What specific alignment causes a signal detected via Gravitational Microlensing?Which technique was responsible for the very first confirmed exoplanet detections reported in 1992?Why is combining data from the Transit method (size) and RV method (mass) crucial for planetary characterization?What instrumentation feature is commonly used in Direct Imaging to make detection feasible despite overwhelming stellar light?