Starspots on the fastest rotators in the β Pictoris moving group^⋆

¹ Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, 38205 La Laguna, Tenerife Spain
e-mail: david.garcia@gtc.iac.es
² Grantecan CALP, 38712 Breña Baja, La Palma, Spain
³ Harvard-Smithsonian CfA, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
⁴ INAF - Osservatorio Astrofisico di Catania, via S. Sofia 78, 95123 Catania, Italy
⁵ South African Astronomical Observatory, PO Box 9, Observatory 7935, Cape Town, South Africa
⁶ Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
⁷ Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG Northern Ireland
⁸ Department of Physics, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville 7535, South Africa

Received: 4 February 2011
Accepted: 1 June 2011

Abstract

Aims. We carried out high-resolution spectroscopy and BV(I)_C photometric monitoring of the two fastest late-type rotators in the nearby β Pictoris moving group, HD 199143 (F7V) and CD−64°1208 (K7V). The motivation for this work is to investigate the rotation periods and photospheric spot patterns of these very young stars, with a longer term view to probing the evolution of rotation and magnetic activity during the early phases of main-sequence evolution. We also aim to derive information on key physical parameters, such as rotational velocity and rotation period.

Methods. We applied maximum entropy (ME) and Tikhonov regularizing (TR) criteria to derive the surface spot map distributions of the optical modulation observed in HD 199143 (F7 V) and CD−64°1208 (K7 V). We also used cross-correlation techniques to determine stellar parameters such as radial velocities and rotational velocities. Lomb-Scargle periodograms were used to obtain the rotational periods from differential magnitude time series.

Results. We find periods and inclinations of 0.356 days and 21.5 deg for HD 199143, and 0.355 days and 50.1 deg for CD−64°1208. The spot maps of HD 199143 obtained from the ME and TR methods are very similar, although the latter gives a smoother distribution of the filling factor. Maps obtained at two different epochs three weeks apart show a remarkable increase in spot coverage amounting to  ~7% of the surface of the photosphere over a time period of only  ~20 days. The spot maps of CD−64°1208 from the two methods show good longitudinal agreement, whereas the latitude range of the spots is extended to cover the whole visible hemisphere in the TR map. The distributions obtained from the first light curve of HD 199143 show the presence of an extended and asymmetric active longitude with the maximum filling factor at longitude  ~325°. A secondary active longitude is present at  ~100°. The spotted area distributions on CD−64°1208 show two active longitudes separated by about 180°, which is not unusual on such very active stars.