2001/01/01 by A. Fresneau, R. W. Argyle, G. Marino +1 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Flare #Magnitude (astronomy) #Main sequence #Photometry (optics) #Physics #Proper motion #Stars #Stellar classification #Stellar collision #Stellar evolution #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/318020
openalex publication_date 2001/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
A set of four test regions covering a total celestial area of 520 deg 2 at low galactic latitude is investigated on a set of 130 century-old astrographic plates. About 8% of the 2 × 10 5 stars with apparent B magnitude 10–14 and with total proper-motion component larger than 0 02 yr -1 show a significant flickering greater than 0.4 mag in B over a timescale shorter than 20 minutes. About 25% of these stellar flare candidates concern stars with B - V ∼ 0.2 (spectral type A7). A procedure to select pre–main-sequence stellar candidates from the distance-limited sample of 16 × 10 3 disk dwarfs with detected flickering in B magnitude ≥0.4 is presented in view of a mass loss of 10 -8 M ☉ yr -1 , derived from the analysis of the angular momentum distribution of stellar orbits. Follow-up UBV photoelectric photometry at the present epoch of 200 nearby stellar flares along the Vulpecula Rift shows an effect of reddening in B - V and of blueing in U - B for about 10% of the targets. The detection of optically thin or thick disks around the selected targets is suggested. The success rate in detecting optical flares in nearby stars of ∼1.5 M ☉ with as much as 5 × 10 -6 M ☉ dumped onto the central star during the past 100 years, from deep astrographic plates coupled with 1 m–class telescope is estimated to 10% with a kinematical bias that can be dealt with.