Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2005-08-17
Mon.Not.Roy.Astron.Soc.364:137-145,2005
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Scientific paper
10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.09544.x
We present high resolution images of the young rapidly rotating K3 dwarf Speedy Mic (BO Mic, HD 197890). The photospheric spot maps reveal a heavily and uniformly spotted surface from equatorial to high latitude regions. Contrary to many images of similar objects, Speedy Mic does not possess a uniform filling at high latitudes, but exhibits structure in the polar regions showing greatest concentration in a particular longitude range. The asymmetric rotation profile of Speedy Mic indicates the presence of a companion or nearby star which shows radial velocity shifts over a timescale of several years. Using a simple dynamical argument, we show that Speedy Mic is unlikely to be a binary system, and conclude that the feature must be the result of a chance alignment with a background binary. Complete phase coverage on two consecutive nights in addition to 60 per cent phase coverage after a three night gap has enabled us to track the evolution of spots with time. By incorporating a solar-like differential rotation model into the image reconstruction process, we find that the equator laps the polar regions once every $191 \pm 17$ d. This finding is in close agreement with measurements for other late-type rapid rotators.
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