Stars are essentially element factories: most of the elements which we know (and dearly love, for life’s sake) were produced by some aspect of stellar evolution, either during their long, uneventful tenancy on the main sequence, shorter and swifter time as a red giant branch star, or their catastrophic death as supernovae.
Stellar variability has received more attention recently due to the problems it poses in the detection of exoplanets; however the study of variability is a field of its own. What causes activity? How does magnetic activity vary with different stars? This paper looks at results from the CoRoT satellite (for Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits), which was launched in December of 2006. This paper is concerned with the long-term photometric microvariability of stars and how stellar activity relates to rotation period and temperature.
Do close-in planets cause their host stars to become more magnetically active? Canto Martins et al. compare stars with and without planets to address this question.
Supernovae, the extremely luminous explosions that are the catastrophic deaths of stars, are used directly and indirectly by astronomers of many disciplines. Cosmologists use type Ia supernovae as powerful “standard candles” to probe the farthest rungs of the cosmic distance ladder. Astrochemists studying the interstellar medium (ISM) track supernovae feedback of heavier elements that enrich the ISM. Astrophysicists working on star formation look for evidence of supernovae-induced collapse of molecular clouds. If supernovae are such ubiquitous tools, then it must be essential to understand the actual supernova (SN) mechanism itself.
My first AAS is at a close. On Tuesday, I attended still more talks on exoplanets, some of which I will discuss below, while on Wednesday I manned my poster.
Understanding the uncertainties involved in the techniques used to detect exoplanets is an important aspect of the search for life beyond the Earth. What role could phenomenon like sunspots play in planet detection?