Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2009-02-23
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
pages; white paper submitted to the Astro2010 Decadal Survey Science Frontier Panel on Stars and Stellar Evolution
Scientific paper
The next decade of survey astronomy has the potential to transform our knowledge of variable stars. Stellar variability underpins our knowledge of the cosmological distance ladder, and provides direct tests of stellar formation and evolution theory. Variable stars can also be used to probe the fundamental physics of gravity and degenerate material in ways that are otherwise impossible in the laboratory. The computational and engineering advances of the past decade have made large-scale, time-domain surveys an immediate reality. Some surveys proposed for the next decade promise to gather more data than in the prior cumulative history of astronomy. The actual implementation of these surveys will have broad implications for the types of science that will be enabled. We examine the design considerations for an optimal time-domain photometric survey dedicated to variable star science, including: observing cadence, wavelength coverage, photometric and astrometric accuracy, single-epoch and cumulative depth, overall sky coverage, and data access by the broader astronomical community. The best surveys must combine aspects from each of these considerations to fully realize the potential for the next decade of time-domain science.
Anderson Scott F.
Becker Andrew C.
Bloom Joshua S.
Georgiev Leonid
Grindlay Josh
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