Two Low-Mass-Ratio Microlensing Planets from High-Magnification Events: KMT-2021-BLG-0247 and MOA-2023-BLG-169

Abstract

We present an analysis of two planetary microlensing events, KMT-2021-BLG-0247 and MOA-2023-BLG-169, both of which exhibit high magnifications and low planet--host mass ratios, but with markedly different levels of parameter constraint. For KMT-2021-BLG-0247, the finite-source effect and microlens parallax are both clearly detected, leading to unusually tight constraints on the physical properties of the lens system. The host mass and lens distance are approximately $M_{\rm L}=0.9\pm0.1\,M_\odot$ and $D_{\rm L}=6.7^{+1.0}_{-0.3}\,\mathrm{kpc}$, respectively, and the planet mass is $M_{\rm p}=41\pm5\,M_\oplus$. The projected planet--host separations are $a_\perp=3.4^{+0.7}_{-0.3}\,\mathrm{au}$ and $3.0^{+0.6}_{-0.3}\,\mathrm{au}$ for the wide and close solutions, respectively. In contrast, MOA-2023-BLG-169 involves an extremely faint source, with $I_{S,{\rm OGLE}}=26.73$, such that the light curve permits a broad family of strongly correlated solutions. We therefore construct the physical-parameter likelihood using approximate invariant combinations of the light-curve parameters and supplement it with post-event Euclid/VIS imaging from the Euclid Q2 Galactic Bulge Survey (Beaulieu et al. 2026). The Euclid data reveal a component at the event position with ${\rm VIS}_{\rm AB}=23.05\pm0.09\,{\rm mag}$. Interpreting this component as the combined light from the source and any luminous lens, the resulting posterior gives $M_{\rm L}=0.48^{+0.23}_{-0.17}\,M_\odot$, $D_{\rm L}=3.50^{+2.82}_{-1.20}\,\mathrm{kpc}$, $a_\perp=1.62^{+0.77}_{-0.43}\,\mathrm{au}$, and $M_{\rm p}=143^{+103}_{-63}\,M_\oplus$. MOA-2023-BLG-169 demonstrates that, for an extreme faint-source event, even the event timescale and angular Einstein radius can remain strongly dependent on the Galactic prior and independent flux constraints.