Discovery and Study of Nearby Habitable Planets with Mesolensing

Abstract

We demonstrate that gravitational lensing can be used to discover and study planets in the habitable zones of nearby dwarf stars. If appropriate software is developed, a new generation of monitoring programs will automatically conduct a census of nearby planets in the habitable zones of dwarf stars. In addition, individual nearby dwarf stars can produce lensing events at predictable times; careful monitoring of these events can discover any planets located in the zone of habitability. Because lensing can discover planets (1) in face-on orbits, and (2) in orbit around the dimmest stars, lensing techniques will provide complementary information to that gleaned through Doppler and/or transit investigations. The ultimate result will be a comprehensive understanding of the variety of systems with conditions similar to those that gave rise to life on Earth.