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Solar-type Stars (solar-type + star)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Physics and Astronomy100%

Selected Abstracts

Field optimization and CCD data simulation for the antarctic International Concordia Explorer Telescope (ICE-T)

ASTRONOMISCHE NACHRICHTEN, Issue 4 2009
D. Fügner
Abstract We performed extensive data simulations for the planned ultra-wide-field, high-precision photometric telescope ICE-T (International Concordia Explorer Telescope). ICE-T consists of two 60 cm-aperture Schmidt telescopes with a joint field of view simultaneously in two photometric bandpasses. Two CCD cameras, each with a single 10.3k × 10.3k thinned back-illuminated device, would image a sky field of 65 square degrees. Given a location of the telescope at Dome C on the East Antarctic Plateau, we searched for the star fields that best exploit the technical capabilities of the instrument and the site. We considered the effects of diurnal air mass and refraction variations, solar and lunar interference, interstellar absorption, overexposing of bright stars and ghosts, crowding by background stars, and the ratio of dwarf to giant stars in the field. Using NOMAD, SSA, Tycho-2 and 2MASS-based stellar positions and BVIJH magnitudes for these fields, we simulated the effects of the telescope's point-spread-function, the integration, and the co-addition times. Simulations of transit light curves are presented for the selected star fields and convolved with the expected instrumental characteristics. For the brightest stars, we showed that ICE-T should be capable of detecting a 2 REarth Super Earth around a G2 solar-type star, as well as an Earth around an M0-star , if these targets were as abundant as hot Jupiters. Simultaneously, the telescope would monitor the host star's surface activity in an astrophysically interpretable manner (© 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source]

Anomalous variations in low-degree helioseismic mode frequencies

MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 2 2006
R. Howe
ABSTRACT We compare changes in the frequencies of solar acoustic modes with degree between 0 and 2, as derived from Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG), Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network (BiSON) and Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) spectra obtained between 1995 and 2003. We find that, after the solar-activity dependence has been removed from the frequencies, there remain variations that appear to be significant, and are often well correlated between the different data sets. We consider possible explanations for these fluctuations, and conclude that they are likely to be related to the stochastic excitation of the modes. The existence of such fluctuations has possible relevance to the analysis of other low-degree acoustic mode spectra such as those from solar-type stars. [source]

High-fidelity spectroscopy at the highest resolutions

ASTRONOMISCHE NACHRICHTEN, Issue 5 2010
D. Dravins
Abstract High-fidelity spectroscopy presents challenges for both observations and in designing instruments. High-resolution and high-accuracy spectra are required for verifying hydrodynamic stellar atmospheres and for resolving intergalactic absorption-line structures in quasars. Even with great photon fluxes from large telescopes with matching spectrometers, precise measurements of line profiles and wavelength positions encounter various physical, observational, and instrumental limits. The analysis may be limited by astrophysical and telluric blends, lack of suitable lines, imprecise laboratory wavelengths, or instrumental imperfections. To some extent, such limits can be pushed by forming averages over many similar spectral lines, thus averaging away small random blends and wavelength errors. In situations where theoretical predictions of lineshapes and shifts can be accurately made (e.g., hydrodynamic models of solar-type stars), the consistency between noisy observations and theoretical predictions may be verified; however this is not feasible for, e.g., the complex of intergalactic metal lines in spectra of distant quasars, where the primary data must come from observations. To more fully resolve lineshapes and interpret wavelength shifts in stars and quasars alike, spectral resolutions on order R = 300 000 or more are required; a level that is becoming (but is not yet) available. A grand challenge remains to design efficient spectrometers with resolutions approaching R = 1 000 000 for the forthcoming generation of extremely large telescopes (© 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source]

Rapid rotation, active nests of convection and global-scale flows in solar-likestars

ASTRONOMISCHE NACHRICHTEN, Issue 10 2007
B.P. Brown
Abstract In the solar convection zone, rotation couples with intensely turbulent convection to build global-scale flows of differential rotation and meridional circulation. Our sun must have rotated more rapidly in its past, as is suggested by observations of many rapidly rotating young solar-type stars. Here we explore the effects of more rapid rotation on the patterns of convection in such stars and the global-scale flows which are self-consistently established. The convection in these systems is richly time dependent and in our most rapidly rotating suns a striking pattern of spatially localized convection emerges. Convection near the equator in these systems is dominated by one or two patches of locally enhanced convection, with nearly quiescent streaming flow in between at the highest rotation rates. These active nests of convection maintain a strong differential rotation despite their small size. The structure of differential rotation is similar in all of our more rapidly rotating suns, with fast equators and slower poles. We find that the total shear in differential rotation, as measured by latitudinal angular velocity contrast, ,,, increases with more rapid rotation while the relative shear, ,,/,, decreases. In contrast, at more rapid rotation the meridional circulations decrease in both energy and peak velocities and break into multiple cells of circulation in both radius and latitude. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source]