FLUCTUATIONS in the brightness of distant stars, measured in finer detail than ever before, are offering unexpected insights into what is going on inside them.
A team led by Eric Michel of the Paris Observatory in France used the CoRoT spacecraft to measure subtle variations in the brightness of three stars. The fluctuations, caused by vibrations in the surface of the star, were 25 per cent weaker than expected. This suggests that astronomers need to refine their ideas of how energy is transformed on stellar surfaces, Michel says ().
The variations in brightness also provide evidence of stars鈥� internal structure and age, as changes in the stars鈥� composition over time should affect how they vibrate. 鈥淭his marks the start of a new era of space-based asteroseismology,鈥� says J酶rgen Christensen-Dalsgaard of the University of Aarhus in Denmark.
Advertisement
