Astronomers from Astronomical Institute (AI) in Ondřejov studied the red dwarf star AD Leonis, which is known for its significant flaring activity. They coordinated the observing campaign and obtained the time series of the spectra around the Hα hydrogen line region during the ongoing flare. The spectra revealed a significant red asymmetry indicating the movement of matter from the upper atmosphere of the star to the lower layers. The authors constructed a geometric model to explain this asymmetry.
AD Leonis is a relatively bright star, so it is within reach of smaller telescopes. Petr Heinzel, his student Jiří Wollmann and Petr Kabáth from the Stellar Department of AI used high-quality photometric data taken by observers of the Variable Stars and Exoplanets Section of the Czech Astronomical Society. The star’s brightness also guarantees the possibility of acquiring a high-resolution spectra using the OES echelle spectrograph fed by the Perek 2-meter Telescope. Photometric and spectroscopic data were acquired in three observation campaigns that took place in the spring of 2019, 2020 and 2021. The campaigns were successful and it was possible to obtain quality data for studying the characteristics of flares on this star. Details can be found on the ASU website (in Czech) of in original paper (see links).
Links and contact:
- popular text, AI web page: Na čem pracujeme: Pozorování a modelování asymetrie spektrálních čar ve hvězdné erupci (M. Švanda, in Czech)
- scientific paper: J. Wollmann, P. Heinzel and P. Kabáth, Observations and modeling of spectral line asymmetries in stellar flares, Astronomy & Astrophysics, in press, arXiv:2211.07402
- Contact: prof. RNDr. Petr Heinzel, DrSc. (pheinzel@asu.cas.cz), Mgr. Jiří Wollmann (jiri.wollmann@asu.cas.cz), Petr Kabáth