| Issue |
A&A
Volume 593, September 2016
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | A123 | |
| Number of page(s) | 12 | |
| Section | Stellar atmospheres | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201628545 | |
| Published online | 04 October 2016 | |
Time-series Doppler imaging of the red giant HD 208472
Active longitudes and differential rotation⋆,⋆⋆
1 Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP), An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
2 Ege University, Faculty of Science, Astronomy and Space Sciences Department, 35100 Bornova, İzmir, Turkey
e-mail: orkun.ozdarcan@ege.edu.tr
Received: 18 March 2016
Accepted: 7 July 2016
Context. HD 208472 is among the most active RS CVn binaries with cool starspots. Decade-long photometry has shown that the spots seem to change their longitudinal appearance with a period of about six years, coherent with brightness variations.
Aims. Our aim is to spatially resolve the stellar surface of HD 208472 and relate the photometric results to the true longitudinal and latitudinal spot appearance. Furthermore, we investigate the surface differential rotation pattern of the star.
Methods. We employed three years of high-resolution spectroscopic data with a high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) from the STELLA robotic observatory and determined new and more precise stellar physical parameters. Precalculated synthetic spectra were fit to each of these spectra, and we provide new spot-corrected orbital elements. A sample of 34 absorption lines per spectrum was used to calculate mean line profiles with a S/N of several hundred. A total of 13 temperature Doppler images were reconstructed from these line profiles with the inversion code iMap. Differential rotation was investigated by cross-correlating successive Doppler images in each observing season.
Results. Spots on HD 208472 are distributed preferably at high latitudes and less frequently around mid-to-low latitudes. No polar-cap like structure is seen at any epoch. We observed a flip-flop event between 2009 and 2010, manifested as a flip of the spot activity from phase 0.0 to phase 0.5, while the overall brightness of the star continued to increase and reached an all-time maximum in 2014. Cross-correlation of successive Doppler images suggests a solar-like differential rotation that is ≈15 times weaker than that of the Sun.
Key words: stars: activity / stars: imaging / starspots / stars: individual: HD 208472
Based on data obtained with the STELLA robotic telescope in Tenerife, an AIP facility jointly operated by AIP and IAC, and the Potsdam Automatic Photoelectric Telescopes (APT) in Arizona, jointly operated by AIP and Fairborn Observatory.
Radial velocity measurements are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/593/A123
© ESO, 2016
Current usage metrics show cumulative count of Article Views (full-text article views including HTML views, PDF and ePub downloads, according to the available data) and Abstracts Views on Vision4Press platform.
Data correspond to usage on the plateform after 2015. The current usage metrics is available 48-96 hours after online publication and is updated daily on week days.
Initial download of the metrics may take a while.