M dwarf UV flares in GALEX Virtual Observatory Resource

Authors
  1. Welsh B.Y.
  2. Wheatley J.M.
  3. Seibert M.
  4. Browne S.E.
  5. West A.A.,Siegmund O.H.W.
  6. Barlow T.A.
  7. Forster K.
  8. Friedman P.G.
  9. Martin D.C.,Morrissey P.
  10. Small T.
  11. Wyder T.
  12. Schiminovich D.
  13. Neff S.
  14. Rich R.M.
  15. Published by
    CDS
Abstract

We present the preliminary results from implementing a new software tool that enables inspection of time-tagged photon data for the astronomical sources contained within individual GALEX ultraviolet (UV) images of the sky. We have inspected the photon data contained within 1802 GALEX images to reveal rapid, short-term (<~500s) UV source variability in the form of stellar "flares." The mean associated change in near-UV (NUV) magnitude due to this flaring activity is 2.7+/-0.3mag. A list of 49 new UV variable star candidates is presented (associated with 52 separate flare events), together with their associated Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) photometric magnitudes. From these data we can associate the main source of these UV flare events with magnetic activity on M dwarf stars. Photometric parallaxes have been determined for 32 of these sources, placing them at distances ranging from approximately 25 to 1000pc. The average UV flare energy for these flare events is 2.5x10^30^ergs, which is of a similar energy to that of U-band, X-ray, and EUV flares observed on many local M dwarf stars. We have found that stars of classes M0 to M5 flare with energies spanning a far larger range and with an energy approximately 5 times greater than those of later (M6 to M8) spectral type.

Keywords
  1. variable-stars
  2. apparent-magnitude
  3. ultraviolet-astronomy
Bibliographic source Bibcode
2007ApJS..173..673W
See also HTML
https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/ApJS/173/673
IVOA Identifier IVOID
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/ApJS/173/673
Document Object Identifer DOI
doi:10.26093/cds/vizier.21730673

Access

Web browser access HTML
http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJS/173/673
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJS/173/673
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/ApJS/173/673
IVOA Table Access TAP
http://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tap
Run SQL-like queries with TAP-enabled clients (e.g., TOPCAT).
IVOA Cone Search SCS
For use with a cone search client (e.g., TOPCAT).
http://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJS/173/673/table1?
https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJS/173/673/table1?
http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/ApJS/173/673/table1?

History

2009-07-07T21:58:49Z
Resource record created
2009-07-07T21:58:49Z
Created
2017-10-16T14:58:35Z
Updated

Contact

Name
CDS support team
Postal Address
CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
E-Mail
cds-question@unistra.fr