Gravitational Microlensing – one way to hunt for exoplanets
New Zealand is solving some of the most captivating mysteries within the universe. One of the many research facilities is nestled within the Mackenzie basin at the Mt. John University Observatory in Lake Tekapo. It is home to some of the largest telescopes found in New Zealand; the largest being the 1.8m MOA II telescope. It uses a relatively old concept called gravitational microlensing, however this technique has only been put into play for the last 10 years to find exoplanets.