2017/08/08 by Brett M. Morris, Leslie Hebb, James R. A. Davenport +3 · 118 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics #Dynamo #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Latitude #Light curve #Magnetic field #Photometry (optics) #Physics #Planet #Stars #Starspot #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Sunspot #astro-ph.EP #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aa8555
published in The Astrophysical Journal 846(2), 99 (IOP Publishing) · 28 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal (August 7, 2017)
arxiv created 2017/08/08 · openalex publication_date 2017/09/06 · arxiv updated 2017/09/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract We measure the starspot radii and latitude distribution on the K4 dwarf HAT-P-11 from Kepler short-cadence photometry. We take advantage of starspot occultations by HAT-P-11’s highly misaligned planet to compare the spot size and latitude distributions to those of sunspots. We find that HAT-P-11’s spots are distributed in latitude much like sunspots near the solar activity maximum, with a mean spot latitude of ≈16° ± 1°. The majority of HAT-P-11’s starspots have physical sizes that closely resemble the sizes of sunspots at solar maximum. We estimate the mean spotted area coverage on HAT-P-11 to be , roughly two orders of magnitude greater than the typical solar spotted area.