OGLEing MACHOs

OGLEing MACHOs

by | Jun 23, 2011 | Daily Paper Summaries

In previous astrobites posts, we’ve talked about using microlensing to find planets and to detect dark matter in other galaxies. However, one of the earliest applications of microlensing was a bit closer to home: the detection of compact objects in the dark matter halo of our own galaxy. We know there is a lot more mass in galaxies, including our own, than what we can see. Dark matter comprises more than 80% of the matter in our Universe, but what is it really comprised of?

Computers search for quasars.

Computers search for quasars.

by | Jan 19, 2011 | Daily Paper Summaries

With the advent of large photometric surveys, Astronomers must often work through massive amounts of data. One solution to deal with these large numbers is to train computers to do the job. This paper discusses such a computer algorithm to select candidate quasi-stellar objects (QSOs), the bright nuclei of galaxies that each house a supermassive black hole.