Related papers: Convection in Cool Stars, as Seen Through Kepler's…
Variability in the time series brightness of a star on a timescale of 8 hours, known as 'flicker', has been previously demonstrated to serve as a proxy for the surface gravity of a star by Bastien et al. (2013). Although surface gravity is…
In Bastien et al. (2013) we found that high quality light curves, such as those obtained by Kepler, may be used to measure stellar surface gravity via granulation-driven light curve "flicker". Here, we update and extend the relation…
A large fraction of cool, low-mass stars exhibit brightness fluctuations that arise from a combination of convective granulation, acoustic oscillations, magnetic activity, and stellar rotation. Much of the short-timescale variability takes…
Light curves produced by the Kepler mission demonstrate stochastic brightness fluctuations (or "flicker") of stellar origin which contribute to the noise floor, limiting the sensitivity of exoplanet detection and characterization methods.…
Our understanding of extra-solar planet systems is highly driven by advances in observations in the past decade. Thanks to high precision spectrograph, we are able to reveal unseen companions to stars with the radial velocity method. High…
Most extrasolar planets have been detected by their influence on their parent star, typically either gravitationally (the Doppler method) or by the small dip in brightness as the planet blocks a portion of the star (the transit method).…
Detecting and confirming terrestrial planets is incredibly difficult due to their tiny size and mass relative to Sun-like host stars. However, recent instrumental advancements are making the detection of Earth-like exoplanets…
Magnetic bright points on the solar photosphere mark the footpoints of kilogauss magnetic flux tubes extending toward the corona. Convective buffeting of these tubes is believed to excite MHD waves, which can propagate to the corona and…
The NASA Kepler mission is providing an unprecedented set of asteroseismic data. In particular, short-cadence lightcurves (~60s samplings), allow us to study solar-like stars covering a wide range of masses, spectral types and evolutionary…
Planetary transits provide a unique opportunity to investigate the surface distributions of star spots. Our aim is to determine if, with continuous observation (such as the data that will be provided by the Kepler mission), we can in…
We use photometric observations of solar-type stars, made by the NASA Kepler Mission, to conduct a statistical study of the impact of stellar surface activity on the detectability of solar-like oscillations. We find that the number of stars…
High-quality time series provided by space instrumentation such as CoRoT and Kepler, allow us to measure modulations in the light curves due to changes in the surface of stars related to rotation and activity. Therefore, we are able to…
Continuous high-precision photometry of stars, provided by space missions such as CoRoT, Kepler, and K2, represents a unique way to study stellar rotation and magnetism. The coupling of these studies of the surface dynamics with…
The measurement of oscillations excited by surface convection is a powerful method to study the structure and evolution of cool stars. CoRoT and Kepler have initiated a revolution in asteroseismology by detecting oscillations in thousands…
Convection and turbulence in stellar atmospheres have a significant effect on the emergent flux from late-type stars. The theoretical advancements in convection modelling over recent years have proved challenging for the observers to obtain…
As a planet transits the face of a star, it accelerates along the line-of-sight. The changing delay in the propagation of photons produces an apparent deceleration of the planet across the sky throughout the transit. This persistent…
Photometry from Kepler has revealed the presence of cool starspots on the surfaces of thousands of stars, presenting a wide range of spot morphologies and lifetimes. Understanding the lifetime and evolution of starspots across the main…
We have developed a new method to improve the transit detection of Earth-sized planets in front of solar-like stars by fitting stellar microvariability by means of a spot model. A large Monte Carlo numerical experiment has been designed to…
While the mission's primary goal was focused on exoplanet detection and characterization, Kepler made and continues to make extraordinary advances in stellar physics. Stellar rotation and magnetic activity are no exceptions. Kepler allowed…
Stellar rotation periods can be determined by observing brightness variations caused by active magnetic regions transiting visible stellar disk as the star rotates. The successful stellar photometric surveys stemming from the Kepler and…