Forecasting life: a study of activity cycles in low-mass stars: lessons from long-term stellar light curves.
Magnetic activity cycles are indirect traces of magnetic fields and can provide an insight on the nature and action of stellar dynamos and stellar magnetic activity. This, in turn, can determine local space weather and activity effects on stellar habitable zones. Using photometric monitoring of low-mass stars, we study the presence and properties of their magnetic activity cycles. We introduce long-term light curves of our sample stars, and discuss the properties of the observed trends, especially at spectral types where stars are fully convective (later than M3).
NASA Astrobiology Institute, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5241 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, DC 20015, USA. skafka@dtm.ciw.edu
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D005544:Forecasting; D008027:Light; D016082:Solar System