Parallax distortion by the weak microlensing effect

Abstract

Parallax measurements allow distances to celestial objects to be determined. Coupled with measurement of their position on the celestial sphere, it gives a full three-dimensional picture of the location of the objects relative to the observer. The distortion of the parallax value of a remote source affected by a weak microlensing is considered. This means that the weak microlensing leads to distortion of the distance scale. It is shown that the distortions to appear may change strongly the parallax values in case they amount to several microseconds of arc. In particular, at this accuracy many measured values of the parallaxes must be negative.