Microlensing
Microlensing is a gravitational lensing phenomenon that occurs when a massive object passes in front of a background star, bending and magnifying its light. In space and astronautical engineering, microlensing is used to detect and study exoplanets, as the presence of a planet can cause a detectable variation in the magnification of the background star's light. Microlensing can also be used to study the distribution of dark matter in the universe, as the gravitational lensing effect is sensitive to the mass of the lensing object, whether it is visible or not.
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