Optical Spectroscopy of a Flare on Barnard’s Star

descriptionPublicationkeyboard_double_arrow_right Article , Preprint , Other literature type 01 Feb 2006Embargo end date: 01 Jan 2005 English Publisher:IOP PublishingJournal:Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, volume 118, pages 227-235 (issn: 0004-6280, eissn: 1538-3873,

Copyright policy )Funded by:NSF | Properties of Low Mass St...

Authors: Paulson, D.; Allred, J.; Anderson, R.; Hawley, S.; Cochran, W.; Yelda, S.;

doi: 10.1086/499497 , 10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/0511281

arXiv: astro-ph/0511281

Optical Spectroscopy of a Flare on Barnard’s Star

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Abstract

We present optical spectra of a flare on Barnard's star. Several photospheric as well as chromospheric species were enhanced by the flare heating. An analysis of the Balmer lines shows that their shapes are best explained by Stark broadening rather than chromospheric mass motions. We estimate the temperature of the flaring region in the lower atmosphere to be >8000 K and the electron density to be ~10^14 cm^{-3}, similar to values observed in other dM flares. Because Barnard's star is considered to be one of our oldest neighbors, a flare of this magnitude is probably quite rare.

Accepted for publication in PASP

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Keywords

Astrophysics (astro-ph), FOS: Physical sciences, Astrophysics

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