Microlensing a Rogue Planet

This animation illustrates the concept of gravitational microlensing with a rogue planet — a planet that does not orbit a star. When the rogue planet appears to pass nearly in front of a background source star, the light rays of the source star become bent due to the warped space-time around the foreground planet. This planet is then a virtual magnifying glass, amplifying the brightness of the background source star. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab