Photometric Transits from the MACHO Project Database

Abstract

We have searched the MACHO project photometry database for light curves consistent with the transits of low-luminosity objects. By analyzing the 180,000 brightest stars in 14 0.5 deg 2 fields toward the Galactic bulge, we have found a few hundred low-amplitude eclipsing binary systems. We have used the shapes and colors of these objects to separate the transits of objects with relatively small radii from the grazing eclipses of stars with larger radii. We find nine objects with short-period eclipses consistent with either giant extrasolar planets or late-type dwarf stars.