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We summarize some of the compelling new scientific opportunities for understanding stars and stellar systems that can be enabled by sub-milliarcsec (sub-mas) angular resolution, UV-Optical spectral imaging observations, which can reveal the…
Perhaps more than other physical sciences, astronomy is frequently statistical in nature. The objects under study are inaccessible to direct manipulation in the laboratory, so the astronomer is restricted to observing a few external…
The NASA Kepler mission -in flight since March 2009- is producing an enormous number of high-quality continuous light curves. Now, and for the first time ever, we are able to do ensemble asteroseismology, i.e., to do an asteroseismic…
Solar seismology has allowed precision measurements of both the static and dynamic structure of our local star, the Sun. In the near future, seismology of solar-like stars of different ages and masses, necessarily restricted by angular…
Studies of stellar populations, understood to mean collections of stars with common spatial, kinematic, chemical, and/or age distributions, have been reinvigorated during the last decade by the advent of large-area sky surveys such as SDSS,…
Although the Sun is our closest star by many orders of magnitude and despite having sunspot records stretching back to ancient China, our knowledge of the Sun's magnetic field is far from complete. Indeed, even now, after decades of study,…
Stellar variability is driven by a multitude of internal physical processes that depend on fundamental stellar properties. These properties are our bridge to reconciling stellar observations with stellar physics, and for understanding the…
As the Stars and Stellar Evolution (SSE) panel is fully aware, the next decade will see major advances in our understanding of these areas of research. To quote from their charge, these advances will occur in studies of the Sun as a star,…
Contemporary astronomy benefits of very large and rapidly growing amounts of data in all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum, from long-wavelength radio waves to high energy gamma-rays. Astronomers normally specialize in data taken in one…
Radio astronomy has benefited greatly from advances in technology and will continue to do so in the future. In fact, we are experiencing a revolution in the way radio astronomy is conducted as our instruments allow us now to directly…
Transiting exoplanets in multi-planet systems have non-Keplerian orbits which can cause the times and durations of transits to vary. The theory and observations of transit timing variations (TTV) and transit duration variations (TDV) are…
We review some aspects of the current state of data-intensive astronomy, its methods, and some outstanding data analysis challenges. Astronomy is at the forefront of "big data" science, with exponentially growing data volumes and data…
Variability is a defining characteristic of young stellar systems, and optical variability has been heavily studied to select and characterize the photospheric properties of young stars. In recent years, multi-epoch observations sampling a…
Superflares on solar-type stars has been a rapidly developing field ever since the launch of $\it Kepler$. Over the years, there have been several studies investigating the statistics of these explosive events. In this study, we present a…
Space weather is among the most powerful and least understood forces shaping planetary atmospheres. In our Solar System, we observe its effects directly: atmospheric escape, chemical disruption, and spectacular auroral displays. Yet for…
NASA's Kepler Space Telescope has collected high-precision, high-cadence time series photometry on 781,590 unique postage-stamp targets across 21 different fields of view. These observations have already yielded 2,496 scientific…
Accuracies reached in space astrometry now permit the accurate determination of astrometric radial velocities, without any use of spectroscopy. Knowing this true stellar motion, spectral shifts intrinsic to stellar atmospheres can be…
Asteroseismology is among the most powerful observational tools to determine fundamental properties of stars. Space-based photometry has recently enabled the systematic detection of oscillations in exoplanet host stars, allowing a…
In the past decade, helioseismology has revolutionized our understanding of the interior structure of the Sun. In the next decade, asteroseismology will place this knowledge into context, by providing structural information for dozens of…
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has provided stellar rotation periods across much of the sky through high-precision light curves, but the reliability and completeness of these measurements require careful evaluation. We…