2004/11/19 by C. S. Brinkworth, Carolyn Brinkworth, T. R. Marsh +6 · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.08649.x
published as Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc. 357 (2005) 333-337 · (1) University of Southampton, (2) University of Warwick, (3) University of Nijmegen, (4) Keele University, (5) University of Leicester. 6 pages, 5 figs, accepted MNRAS
arxiv created 2004/11/19 · openalex publication_date 2005/01/12 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
WD 1953-011 is an isolated, cool (7920 ± 200 K) magnetic white dwarf (MWD) with a low average field strength (∼70 kG), and a higher than average mass (∼0.74 M⊙). Spectroscopic observations taken by Maxted et al. showed variations of equivalent width in the Balmer lines, unusual in a low-field white dwarf. Here we present V-band photometry of WD 1953-011 taken at seven epochs over a total of 22 months. All of the data sets show a sinusoidal variation of approximately 2 per cent peak-to-peak amplitude. We propose that these variations are due to a star-spot on the MWD, analogous to a sunspot, which is affecting the temperature at the surface, and therefore its photometric magnitude. The variations have a best-fitting period over the entire 22 months of 1.4418 d, which we interpret as the rotational period of the white dwarf.