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Photometry of Pulsating Stars in the Magellanic Clouds as Observed in the MOA Project

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

J. B. Hearnshaw
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
I. A. Bond
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics, University of Auckland, New Zealandand Dept. Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
N. J. Rattenbury
Affiliation:
Dept. of Physics, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
S. Noda
Affiliation:
Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan
M. Takeuti
Affiliation:
Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578, Japan

Abstract

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A review of the MOA (Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics) project is presented. MOA is a collaboration of approximately 30 astronomers from New Zealand and Japan established with the aim of finding and detecting microlensing events towards the Magellanic Clouds and the Galactic bulge, which may be indicative of either dark matter or of planetary companions. The observing program commenced in 1995, using very wide band blue and red filters and a nine-chip mosaic CCD camera.

As a by-product of these observations a large database of CCD photometry for 1.4 million stars towards both LMC and SMC has been established. In one preliminary analysis 576 bright variable stars were confirmed, nearly half of them being Cepheids. Another analysis has identified large numbers of blue variables, and 205 eclipsing binaries are included in this sample. In addition 351 red variables (AGB stars) have been found. Light curves have been obtained for all these stars. The observations are carried out on a 61-cm f/6.25 telescope at Mt John University Observatory where a new larger CCD camera was installed in 1998 July. From this latitude (44° S) the Magellanic Clouds can be monitored throughout the year.

Type
Part 1. Large Scale Surveys: Present and Future
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2000

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