No Arabic abstract
Magnetic spots on low-mass stars can be traced and characterised using multi-band photometric light curves. Here we analyse an extensive data set for one active star, V1598Cyg, a known variable K dwarf which is either pre-main sequence and/or in a close binary system. Our light curve contains 2854 photometric data points, mostly in $V$, $R_c$, $I_c$, but also in $U$, $B$ and $Halpha$, with a total baseline of about 4yr, obtained with small telescopes as part of the HOYS project. We find that V1598Cyg is a very fast rotator with a period of 0.8246 days and varying amplitudes in all filters, best explained as a signature of strong magnetic activity and spots. We fit the photometric amplitudes in $V$, $R_c$, $I_c$ and use them to estimate spot properties, using a grid-based method that is also propagating uncertainties. We verify the method on a partial data set with high cadence and all five broad-band filters. The method yields spot temperatures and fractional spot coverage with typical uncertainties of 100K and 3-4%, respectively. V1598Cyg consistently exhibits spots that are a few hundred degrees warmer than the photosphere, most likely indicating that the light curve is dominated by chromospheric plage. The spot activity varies over our observing baseline, with a typical time scale of 0.5-1yr, which we interpret as the typical spot lifetime. Combining our light curve with archival data, we find a six year cycle in the average brightness, that is probably a sign of a magnetic activity cycle.
Studying rotational variability of young stars is enabling us to investigate a multitude of properties of young star-disk systems. We utilise high cadence, multi-wavelength optical time series data from the Hunting Outbursting Young Stars citizen science project to identify periodic variables in the Pelican Nebula (IC5070). A double blind study using nine different period-finding algorithms was conducted and a sample of 59 periodic variables was identified. We find that a combination of four period finding algorithms can achieve a completeness of 85% and a contamination of 30% in identifying periods in inhomogeneous data sets. The best performing methods are periodograms that rely on fitting a sine curve. Utilising GaiaEDR3 data, we have identified an unbiased sample of 40 periodic YSOs, without using any colour or magnitude selections. With a 98.9% probability we can exclude a homogeneous YSO period distribution. Instead we find a bi-modal distribution with peaks at three and eight days. The sample has a disk fraction of 50%, and its statistical properties are in agreement with other similarly aged YSOs populations. In particular, we confirm that the presence of the disk is linked to predominantly slow rotation and find a probability of 4.8$times$10$^{-3}$ that the observed relation between period and presence of a disk has occurred by chance. In our sample of periodic variables, we also find pulsating giants, an eclipsing binary, and potential YSOs in the foreground of IC5070.
Variability in Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) is one of their primary characteristics. Long-term, multi-filter, high-cadence monitoring of large YSO samples is the key to understand the partly unusual light-curves that many of these objects show. Here we introduce and present the first results of the HOYS-CAPS citizen science project which aims to perform such monitoring for nearby (d<1kpc) and young (age<10Myr) clusters and star forming regions, visible from the northern hemisphere, with small telescopes. We have identified and characterised 466 variable (413 confirmed young) stars in 8 young, nearby clusters. All sources vary by at least 0.2mag in V, have been observed at least 15 times in V, R and I in the same night over a period of about 2yrs and have a Stetson index of larger than 1. This is one of the largest samples of variable YSOs observed over such a time-span and cadence in multiple filters. About two thirds of our sample are classical T-Tauri stars, while the rest are objects with depleted or transition disks. Objects characterised as bursters show by far the highest variability. Dippers and objects whose variability is dominated by occultations from normal interstellar dust or dust with larger grains (or opaque material) have smaller amplitudes. We have established a hierarchical clustering algorithm based on the light-curve properties which allows the identification of the YSOs with the most unusual behaviour, and to group sources with similar properties. We discuss in detail the light-curves of the unusual objects V2492Cyg, V350Cep and 2MASSJ21383981+5708470.
The HOYS citizen science project conducts long term, multifilter, high cadence monitoring of large YSO samples with a wide variety of professional and amateur telescopes. We present the analysis of the light curve of V1490Cyg in the Pelican Nebula. We show that colour terms in the diverse photometric data can be calibrated out to achieve a median photometric accuracy of 0.02mag in broadband filters, allowing detailed investigations into a variety of variability amplitudes over timescales from hours to several years. Using GaiaDR2 we estimate the distance to the Pelican Nebula to be 870$^{+70}_{-55}$pc. V1490Cyg is a quasi-periodic dipper with a period of 31.447$pm$0.011d. The obscuring dust has homogeneous properties, and grains larger than those typical in the ISM. Larger variability on short timescales is observed in U and R$_c-$H$alpha$, with U-amplitudes reaching 3mag on timescales of hours, indicating the source is accreting. The H$alpha$ equivalent width and NIR/MIR colours place V1490Cyg between CTTS/WTTS and transition disk objects. The material responsible for the dipping is located in a warped inner disk, about 0.15AU from the star. This mass reservoir can be filled and emptied on time scales shorter than the period at a rate of up to 10$^{-10}$M$_odot$/yr, consistent with low levels of accretion in other T Tauri stars. Most likely the warp at this separation from the star is induced by a protoplanet in the inner accretion disk. However, we cannot fully rule out the possibility of an AA Tau-like warp, or occultations by the Hill sphere around a forming planet.
We present time series photometry of 57 variable stars in the cluster region NGC 7380. The association of these variable stars to the cluster NGC 7380 has been established on the basis of two colour diagrams and colour-magnitude diagrams. Seventeen stars are found to be main-sequence variables, which are mainly B type stars and are classified as slowly pulsating B stars, $beta$ Cep or $delta$ Scuti stars. Some of them may belong to new class variables as discussed by Mowlavi et al. (2013) and Lata et al. (2014). Present sample also contains 14 pre-main-sequence stars, whose ages and masses are found to be mostly $lesssim$ 5 Myr and range 0.60 $lesssim M/M_{odot} lesssim$ 2.30 and hence should be T-Tauri stars. About half of the weak line T-Tauri stars are found to be fast rotators with a period of $lesssim$ 2 days as compared to the classical T-Tauri stars. Some of the variables belong to the field star population.
We present the confirmation of the eccentric warm giant planet TOI-201 b, first identified as a candidate in textit{TESS} photometry (Sectors 1-8, 10-13, and 27-28) and confirmed using ground-based photometry from NGTS and radial velocities from FEROS, HARPS, CORALIE, and textsc{Minerva}-Australis. TOI-201 b orbits a young ($mathrm{0.87^{+0.46}_{-0.49} , Gyr}$) and bright(V=9.07 mag) F-type star with a $mathrm{52.9781 , d}$ period. The planet has a mass of $mathrm{0.42^{+0.05}_{-0.03}, M_J}$, a radius of $mathrm{1.008^{+0.012}_{-0.015}, R_J}$, and an orbital eccentricity of $0.28^{+0.06}_{-0.09}$; it appears to still be undergoing fairly rapid cooling, as expected given the youth of the host star. The star also shows long-term variability in both the radial velocities and several activity indicators, which we attribute to stellar activity. The discovery and characterization of warm giant planets such as TOI-201 b is important for constraining formation and evolution theories for giant planets.