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Direct ultraviolet imaging and spectroscopy of betelgeuse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2013

A.K. Dupree
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
R.P. Stefanik
Affiliation:
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
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Abstract

Direct images of Betelgeuse were obtained over a span of 4 years with the Faint Object Camera on the Hubble Space Telescope. These images reveal the extended ultraviolet continuum emission (~2 times the optical diameter), the varying overall ultraviolet flux levels and a pattern of bright surface continuum features that change in position and appearance over several months or less. Concurrent photometry and radial velocity measures support the model of a pulsating star, first discovered in the ultraviolet from IUE. Spatially resolved HST spectroscopy reveals a larger extention in chromospheric emissions of Mg II as well as the rotation of the supergiant. Changing localized subsonic flows occur in the low chromosphere that can cover a substantial fraction of the stellar disk and may initiate the mass outflow.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© EAS, EDP Sciences 2013

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