Gamma Doradus Star

Gamma Doradus Star
Originally uploaded by Astro Guy.

Another day, another neat light curve. Here is 44 days of continuous photometry of a gamma Doradus star. The top panel shows the DFT (amplitude, not power!) and the bottom panel shows the light curve binned by 40 minute intervals. The gamma Doradus stars are a relativity new class of variable stars found in the classical instability strip. They commonly have low amplitudes (4 mmag for this star!) and periods around 1 day, which makes them difficult to pick up from the ground. The low frequency comment (~1 c/d) are thought to be high-n, low-l g-mode (gravity is the restoring force). This star also shows delta-Scuti like pulsations around 9 c/d. Quite and interesting star and will serve well to test current ideas, such as mode identification schemes!