First Results from the CHARA Array. I. An Interferometric and Spectroscopic Study of the Fast Rotator α Leonis (Regulus)

By H. Mcalister, T. T. ten Brummelaar, D. Gies, W. Huang, W. Bagnuolo, M. Shure, J. Sturmann, L. Sturmann, N. Turner, S. Taylor and 6 more. 2005

166 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We report on K-band interferometric observations of the bright, rapidly rotating star Regulus (type B7 V) made with the CHARA Array on Mount Wilson, California. Through a combination of interferometric and spectroscopic measurements, we have determined for Regulus the equatorial and polar diameters and temperatures, the rotational velocity and period, the inclination and position angle of the spin axis, and the gravity darkening coefficient. These first results from the CHARA Array provide the first interferometric measurement of gravity darkening in a rapidly rotating star and represent the first detection of gravity darkening in a star that is not a member of an eclipsing binary system.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Computational Mechanics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ab0c0fe12421a6d30872df3227472114402cef83

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In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. C. Martayan
2. T. Rivinius
3. A. Carciofi
4. D. Gies
5. W. Hartkopf
6. N. Turner
7. T. T. ten Brummelaar
8. H. Mcalister

In Computational Mechanics

1. R. Zavala
2. W. Hartkopf
3. J. T. Armstrong
4. N. Turner
5. A. Mérand
6. G. Belle
7. Michel Rieutord
8. S. Ridgway

Citations in the corpus

• Fundamental Parameters of 87 Stars from the Navy Precision Optical Interferometer (2017, methodology): “The oblateness for these stars have been measured previously using the CHARA Array for Regulus (McAlister et al. 2005) and Rasalhague (Zhao et al. 2009), and the NPOI for Vega (Peterson et al. 2006b).”
• Gravity darkening in rotating stars (2011, background): “Now, the recent interferometric observations of some nearby rapidly rotating stars by McAlister et al. (2005), Aufdenberg et al. (2006), van Belle et al. (2006), and Zhao et al. (2009) have shown that gravity darkening is not well represented by von Zeipel’s law, which seems to overestimate the…”
• Interferometric observations of rapidly rotating stars (2005, background): “In the case of Regulus, it was noted in the press release associated with the paper (McAlister et al. 2005, but interestingly enough, not in the paper itself) that the orientation of the axis of rotation was aligned with the direction of the star’s proper motion.”
• STELLAR DIAMETERS AND TEMPERATURES. III. MAIN-SEQUENCE A, F, G, AND K STARS: ADDITIONAL HIGH-PRECISION MEASUREMENTS AND EMPIRICAL RELATIONS (2013, unknown): “We do not include data for the rapidly rotating early-type stars observed by Monnier et al. (2007); van Belle et al. (2001) (Altair; α Aql; HR 7557; HD 187642: A7 Vn), Zhao et al. (2009); van Belle et al. (2006) (Alderamin; α Cep; HR 8162; HD 203280: A8 Vn), Zhao et al. (2009) (Rasalhague; α Oph; HR”
• First Results from the CHARA Array. VII. Long-Baseline Interferometric Measurements of Vega Consistent with a Pole-On, Rapidly Rotating Star (2006, background): “Our Vega campaign, part of the commissioning science (McAlister et al. 2005; Mérand et al. 2005; van Belle et al. 2006) for the CHARA Array, obtained visibility data on baselines between 103 m and 273 m which clearly show the signature of a strongly gravity darkened, pole-on, rapidly rotating star.”
• A STELLAR ROTATION CENSUS OF B STARS: FROM ZAMS TO TAMS (2010, background): “This may explain why the fast rotator, Regulus (below the threshold at Veq/Vcrit = 0.86; McAlister et al. 2005), has never exhibited any Balmer line emission.”
• Classical Be stars (2013, background): “81 (McAlister et al. 2005), and the entire spectral class of Bn stars, about as numerous as the Be stars in a magnitude limited sample, such as the Bright Star Catalog (Hoffleit and Jaschek 1991), is defined as rapidly rotating B stars (seen equatorially, hence the “n”, signifying shallow, very broa”
• First Results from the CHARA Array. II. A Description of the Instrument (2005, background): “The first scientific results are presented in Paper I (McAlister et al. 2005) of this series, while in this paper we will provide the technical information and performance background of the instrument.”