The Flare Star RX2201



Some stars are like our sun and have spots on them caused by strong magnetic fields. Sometimes these strong magnetic fields break an explosion results, which we call a flare. Last year we looked at this star because it was an X-ray source and a rapid rotator, making us think that it was probably a variable star. We observed the stars brightness variations and found that the brightness of the star changed with an amplitude of 0.02 magnitudes and a period of 0.448 days. We also observed six flares on the star. We were astonished to see that the flares seemed to be periodic with a period of 0.4421 days! See our paper here.
Using our automated 0.5 meter telescope. we take pictures of this star and the nearby stars. We measure the brightness of the 9 brightest stars and compare them one to each other. If it becomes cloudy then all the stars will become fainter by the same amount and their relative brightness will not change. This is a picture of RX2201 taken with our telescope


Presently we are participating in an international campaign to keep this star under constant observation for a week. Our observers are teams headed by Here is the data that we have gathered so far in the campaign.
Send comments/suggestions/problems to
robb@
uvic.ca