A free-floating-planet microlensing event caused by a Saturn-mass object

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Source: Science Magazine

Original: https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.adv9266?af=R...

Published: 2026-01-01T07:00:11Z

Scientists have detected a microlensing event caused by a free-floating planet with the mass of Saturn. The event was published in the journal Science, Volume 391, Issue 6780, pages 96-99, in January 2026. The microlensing was caused by a binary free-floating planet (BFFP) system with a separation of about 0.05 to 0.15 AU. These systems produce microlensing events with the longest timescales of 10 to 22 hours. Detection of such events is possible within the framework of the Roman Galactic Exoplanet Survey (RGES). The study characterizes BFFP microlensing events based on the signal-to-noise ratio. The orbital motion has a minimal effect, as the ratio of the orbital period to the lensing event time is at least 2.8. These observations allow us to estimate the binary fraction of the BFFP independently of the infrared spectroscopic observations of the JWST [1].