The First Data from the MACHO Experiment

MAssive Compact Halo Objects such as brown dwarfs, Jupiters, and black holes are prime candidates to comprise the dark halo of our galaxy. Paczynski noted that objects (dubbed MACHOs) with masses in the range $10^{-6}M_odot < M simlt 100 M_odot$. can be detected via gravitational microlensing of stars in the Magellanic Clouds with the caveat that only about one in $10^6$ stars will be lensed at any given time. Our group has recently begun a search for microlensing using a refurbished 1.27 meter telescope at the Mount Stromlo Observatory in Australia. Since the summer of 1992, we have been imaging up to $10^7$ stars a night in the Large Magellanic Cloud using our large format two-color $3.4times 10^7$ pixel CCD camera. Here I report on our first results based on an analysis of $sim 10^6$ of these stars. Although this is not enough data to make definitive statements about the nature of the dark matter, we are able to conclude that the rate of variable star background events is not larger than the expected MACHO signal.