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Asteroids Imitated Microlensing in the TESS Curves

A transformer screened about 5.6 million light curves and exposed moving-object peaks among its false positives.

Published Updated Story ID: mp-2026-08-21-017
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Summary

A transformer screened about 5.6 million light curves and exposed moving-object peaks among its false positives.

Microlensify combines simulated lensing curves with real TESS data, reconstructs candidates and estimates duration. Depending on pipeline it flagged 0.036 to 1.89 percent of curves, while cross-matching exposed variables, transients and asteroid crossings. The outputs remain candidates, not confirmed lenses.

Why it matters

A transformer screened about 5.6 million light curves and exposed moving-object peaks among its false positives.

Limits and context

  • The outputs remain candidates, not confirmed lenses.

Key claims

  1. A transformer screened about 5.6 million light curves and exposed moving-object peaks among its false positives.

    Qualification: The outputs remain candidates, not confirmed lenses.

    Evidence: source-2026-08-21-019

Sources

  1. arXiv preprint 2608.19419arXiv · primary research

Corrections

No corrections have been recorded for this story.