Abstract

Contributed Talk - Splinter JungeAG

Tuesday, 10 September 2024, 15:10   (S25)

Unveiling Hidden Milky Way Objects through Gaia Microlensing Events and the Besançon Galaxy Model

Mauritz Wicker
Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg

Gravitational lensing is an extremely powerful tool for studying dark and undetectable Milky Way objects, such as black holes, neutron stars, and exoplanets. While traditional microlensing surveys have typically focused on the Galactic bulge, ESA's Gaia Space Telescope and the Gaia Science Alerts (GSA) campaign provide a unique opportunity to study microlensing events across the entire sky. Analyzing and interpreting these microlensing events requires extensive follow-up observations, large parameter space modeling, and a comprehensive understanding of the source. In this talk, I will discuss how the Besançon Galaxy Model can be leveraged to complement Gaia DR3 data and lightcurve modeling in characterizing the source, lens, and blend. I will present detailed case studies of GSA microlensing events, highlighting noteworthy findings.