The record-breaking rotational deceleration of the He strong CP star HD 37776 (V901 Ori)
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2008 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Contributions of the Astronomical Observatory Skalnaté Pleso |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Astronomy and astrophysics |
| Keywords | stars: chemically peculiar; stars: early type; stars: variables; stars: individual: HD37776; stars: rotation; methods: data analysis; |
| Description | We study the long-term light and spectral variations in the He-strong, magnetic chemically peculiar star HD37776 to search for changes of its 1.5387d period in 1976 - 2007. We analyze all published photometric observations and spectrophotometry in the He I 4026 A line. The data were supplemented with 506 new UVB observations obtained during the last 2 observing seasons, 66 estimates of He I equivalent widths on 23 CFHT spectrograms and 69 on Zeeman spectrograms from the 6-m telescope. All the 1895 particular observations have been processed simultaneously. We confirm the previously suspected increase of the period which is a record among CP stars. The mean rate of the period increase during the last 31 years is 0.541+/-0.020 s per year. We interpret this ongoing period increase as the slowing down of the star's surface rotation due to momentum loss through events and processes in its magnetosphere. |
| Related projects: |