Variable stars in the MACHO bulge database

The MACHO Project has been monitoring large fields in the direction of the Galactic bulge, the LMC and SMC for over 6 years. The nightly observations of this microlensing survey provide very large databases for astronomers. The MACHO database contains {approximately}5 Terabytes of data as of mid-1998. For comparison, the HST Archive contains about {approximately}2 Tb, and the Sloan. Digital Sky Survey will reach {approximately}1.0 Tb. Our database can be used to attack a variety of astrophysical problems, and has produced results relevant to microlensing, galactic structure, and stellar evolution. Of particular importance are the large numbers of variable stars (tens of thousands) found as byproducts of the microlensing search. In years to come, the microlensing databases will play a dominant role in variable star science. Important science can still be done with limited resources, even in places with no access to large telescopes (all you need is computer)