The present monitoring program to identify and study for the first time thecyclic behavior of the coronal emission of stars similar to our Sun has beenongoing since XMM.s AO-1. Five stars in three stellar systems have beenmonitored at regular cadence for over a decade, providing the first clearevidence of long-term cycles in the coronal activity of normal stars, withamplitudes of up to an order of magnitude in X-ray luminosity. The presentproposal requests continuation of the monitoring program into AO-14. Our bestobserved targets, HD81809 and 61Cyg A, have both been observed through more thana full cycle, while a cycle is starting to become evident in the observations ofa Cen B.
Instrument
EMOS1, EMOS2, EPN, OM, RGS1, RGS2
Temporal Coverage
2015-05-19T21:52:20Z/2016-04-25T12:27:17Z
Version
17.56_20190403_1200
Mission Description
The European Space Agencys (ESA) X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) was launched by an Ariane 504 on December 10th 1999. XMM-Newton is ESAs second cornerstone of the Horizon 2000 Science Programme. It carries 3 high throughput X-ray telescopes with an unprecedented effective area, and an optical monitor, the first flown on a X-ray observatory. The large collecting area and ability to make long uninterrupted exposures provide highly sensitive observations. Since Earths atmosphere blocks out all X-rays, only a telescope in space can detect and study celestial X-ray sources. The XMM-Newton mission is helping scientists to solve a number of cosmic mysteries, ranging from the enigmatic black holes to the origins of the Universe itself. Observing time on XMM-Newton is being made available to the scientific community, applying for observational periods on a competitive basis.
European Space Agency, Dr Fabio Favata, 2017, 'Coronal activity cycles in solar analog stars', 17.56_20190403_1200, European Space Agency, https://doi.org/10.5270/esa-ufts7ws
