MicroFUN
Microlensing Network / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about MicroFUN?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
The Microlensing Follow-Up Network (μFUN, pronounced "micro-fun") is an informal group of observers who monitor high magnification gravitational microlensing events in the Milky Way's Galactic Bulge. Its goal is to detect extrasolar planets via microlensing of the parent star by the planet.[1] μFUN is a follow-up network - they monitor microlensing events identified by survey groups such as OGLE and Microlensing Observations in Astrophysics (MOA).
In January 2009, μFUN merged with the Probing Lensing Anomalies NETwork (PLANET).[2]
Organizations like μFUN provide a forum and a listserv for instant notification to amateur and professional astronomers all over the globe, so that microlensing events can be mined for all the information that can be gathered. Thus, amateur astronomers have a useful role in significant discoveries, as well as a clear and democratic path to authorship on any peer-reviewed scientific publications that result.[3]