Imaging the Surface of Altair

Details Imaging the Surface of Altair Imaging the Surface of Altair

2007-06-06

arxiv.org/abs/0706.0867v2

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

24 pages. to appear in Science. includes Report and Supplemental Online Materials. Accompanying animation can be found at ht

Scientific paper

10.1126/science.1143205

Spatially resolving the surfaces of nearby stars promises to advance our knowledge of stellar physics. Using optical long-baseline interferometry, we present here a near-infrared image of the rapidly rotating hot star Altair with <1 milliarcsecond resolution. The image clearly reveals the strong effect of gravity darkening on the highly-distorted stellar photosphere. Standard models for a uniformly rotating star can not explain our results, requiring differential rotation, alternative gravity darkening laws, or both.

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