2004/11/17 by Francois Bouchy, F. Bouchy, A. Maeder +9 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/nature03165
published as Nature 432 (2004) 7015
openalex publication_date 2004/11/17 · arxiv created 2005/10/11 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Stars are sphere of hot gas whose interiors transmit acoustic waves very efficiently. Geologists learn about the interior structure of Earth by monitoring how seismic waves propagate through it and, in a similar way, the interior of a star can be probed using the periodic motions on the surface that arise from such waves. Matthews et al. claim that the star Procyon does not have acoustic surface oscillations of the strength predicted. However, we show here, using ground-based spectroscopy, that Procyon is oscillating, albeit with an amplitude that is only slightly greater than the noise level observed by Matthews et al. using spaced-based photometry.