Call for monitoring Be stars in the TESS sectors

Robin Leadbeater
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Re: Call for monitoring Be stars in the TESS sectors

Post by Robin Leadbeater »

Olivier Thizy wrote:Hello,

Anyway, to monitor a list of target in BeSS, you can use the VO ability of BeSS database. For exemple in VisualSpec it's easy to have a list of targets and check what are the latest spectra and display all of them:
That is a nice feature in VSpec. I had not used it before
Thanks!
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Olivier GARDE
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Re: Call for monitoring Be stars in the TESS sectors

Post by Olivier GARDE »

Here's the evolution of HD 194779 with two others spectra in Bess

Image
LHIRES III #5, LISA, e-Shel, C14, RC400 Astrosib, AP1600
http://o.garde.free.fr/astro/Spectro1/Bienvenue.html
Robin Leadbeater
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Re: Call for monitoring Be stars in the TESS sectors

Post by Robin Leadbeater »

Very interesting! Thanks for the confirming spectrum. Here is the spectrum I took on 28th. (zipped fits file) It looks so different that I am not sure it is the right star. How does it look superimposed on the other spectra ?

EDIT: now confirmed. the observation 20190828 is of a nearby A3V star, not HD194779
hd194779_20190828_870_possibly_wrong_target.png
hd194779_20190828_870_possibly_wrong_target.png (80.35 KiB) Viewed 21927 times
Cheers
Robin
Last edited by Robin Leadbeater on Sat Aug 31, 2019 11:09 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Robin Leadbeater
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Re: Call for monitoring Be stars in the TESS sectors

Post by Robin Leadbeater »

Olivier GARDE wrote:Here's the evolution of HD 194779 with two others spectra in Bess
Jon has updated the table requesting priority higher cadence monitoring of HD194779 until the end of this TESS sector

"Recent spectra show Halpha activity beginning on Aug. 28-29.
Continue to monitor. If possible, get 2 spectra per night- one early and one late until Sept. 11 2019. High SNR will be useful to compare to TESS data."
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J Labadie Bartz
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Re: Call for monitoring Be stars in the TESS sectors

Post by J Labadie Bartz »

Thanks for the tips, Olivier! Both your suggestions will be very useful. I wasn't aware of VirtualSpec, but I see that this will come in handy especially with its ability to interface with the BeSS database.

I'm curious to see how HD194779 will behave in the coming days. Given its high level of 'flickering' variability in its KELT light curve (you can see this if you click on the 'BK-128' box in the spreadsheet on line 37) I expect it to also show activity in the TESS data. Variability in Halpha will make for interesting comparisons. Thanks Olivier and Robin for noticing these interesting changes.

By the way, here is a plot that shows an example of simultaneous TESS data and spectra. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DRdl51 ... sp=sharing

The top panel is the full TESS LC, and the 2nd is a zoom-in on the second half (where most of the spectra were taken). The vertical lines show when the spectra were taken. Then the lower panels show some relevant and variable lines.
Valerie Desnoux
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Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2011 4:52 am

Re: Call for monitoring Be stars in the TESS sectors

Post by Valerie Desnoux »

Hi

Here the list of the TESS stars which are NOT in BeSS - just copy paste the list to one of your favorite excel tool

alt_ID Tmag ST RA DEC
BD+30_3853 7.007 B7V 300.244753 31.230478
MWC_314 7.678 sgB[e]? 290.39156 14.882506
Trumpler_37_1513 7.577 B5V 323.086269 59.572495
MWC_416 7.883 symB[e] 353.416451 48.818316
BD+31_649 6.594 B3IVe 56.670318 32.290198
BD+71_16 6.929 B1V 6.463538 71.807182
BD+47_631 7.545 B9 36.894195 48.231908
BD+45_681 7.886 B5V 44.314165 46.019957
UV_Aur 6.353 symB[e] 80.453821 32.511231
EM*_CDS_487 6.729 O7.5II(f) 80.179492 37.438675
BD+37_1271 7.427 B8V 84.767766 37.976658
BD+40_999 7.674 B8IV 69.163068 41.076895
MWC_752 7.776 B8 79.542423 37.650093
HR_7757 6.509 B6IIIe 304.117337 37.056381
BD+47_4177 7.996 B9V 352.403026 48.380941
BD+63_1955 7.181 B5V 348.868719 64.266731
BD+57_21 7.721 B9 2.688093 58.018283
BD+23_3932 8.061 B9 303.335224 24.194597
BD+22_3902 10.694 A3 300.859197 22.71142
BD+38_3568 8.871 B8V 290.904266 38.993441
BD+20_4657 9.453 B8 309.625685 21.328878
VES_95 10.763 B7IIIn 299.624869 20.550186
MWC_623 8.684 symB[e] 299.131448 31.105607
MWC_1016 8.035 B0.2III 306.027264 38.492567
BD+44_3475 9.644 none 307.086448 45.434049
Hen_3-1880 9.687 B8 304.923418 38.18501
Hen_3-1876 10.527 OB 304.673786 37.986302
BD+36_4032 9.002 O8.5III 305.411132 37.420885
BD+42_3425 8.429 B9V 295.708054 42.650104
AS_373 9.696 symB[e] 299.270947 39.826752
BD+27_3970 8.99 B6/8Vn 316.578625 28.413263
TYC_3586-282-1 9.586 (B8) 311.559901 50.650154
TYC_3583-670-1 10.019 none 313.487229 50.091481
BD+49_3574 9.46 A0 324.512078 50.617512
BD+50_3189 8.968 B0.5IV 311.294172 51.210544
BD+50_3188 9.814 (B) 311.286234 50.55012
BD+42_4162 9.139 A0 324.458457 42.975258
WISE_J205547.33+504028.8 11.556 none 313.947126 50.674281
BD+41_4431 9.044 A0 333.592485 42.100572
BD+40_4736 8.888 A0 332.292336 40.738194
BD+52_3293 8.214 A0 341.749476 53.756702
TYC_3975-1585-1 10.545 B8 323.821947 56.799719
V699_Cep 11.011 unclB[e] 336.661377 61.225426
TYC_3968-1354-1 10.816 OB- 328.793987 53.437951
MWC_1062 9.059 B5:e 336.966349 63.002514
AS_478 10.121 none 328.012785 58.886768
SS_453 10.542 Be: 336.343617 56.710674
BD+54_2887 9.706 A0 344.651322 55.469913
BD+50_4000 8.855 A2 349.218575 51.014732
MWC_657 10.598 unclB[e] 340.674286 60.400121
AS_486 9.327 B8 334.213205 65.965668
EM*_CDS_1299 10.607 OB-e: 331.57211 63.917404
V433_Cep 8.061 B3V 324.2377 68.185364
PN_Hb_12 10.749 cPNB[e] 351.561791 58.181853
BD+55_2936 9.432 (B8) 349.547129 55.843242
MWC_671 9.083 (B8) 8.298351 51.668609
Trumpler_37_1522 8.475 B2IIIne 323.594099 59.478863
BD+56_3106 8.19 B1.5:III:n 358.402228 56.819912
MWC_1120 8.109 O6.5(n)fp 350.185516 61.194576
MWC_670 9.671 B9 7.755663 55.652808
MWC_1085 9.409 B3Ve 358.050518 67.168709
BD+60_2646 8.869 B9.5V 359.283678 61.307575
MWC_683 9.076 (A) 16.114269 57.94065
EM*_GGA_181 13.603 B7 38.560356 61.407509
EM*_VES_763 11.505 OBe 42.084947 61.828396
EM*_GGA_159 11.343 none 35.282593 60.298191
EM*_GGA_183 11.616 none 38.799799 60.365713
VES_750 9.662 B9V 39.190416 62.072823
TYC_4029-428-1 10.112 none 14.388476 67.159431
BD+44_709s 10.792 OB 52.092639 45.132236
EM*_GGA_212 10.87 B8V 43.964321 60.118393
BD+52_602 8.316 A2 39.453187 52.812729
MWC_411 8.594 symB[e] 24.094643 54.25066
[KAG2008]_1636 11.257 B6.0 41.972067 60.741253
EM*_VES_771 12.348 none 46.176239 60.490692
MWC_453 10.405 B 41.410066 61.608974
VES_747 10.624 none 37.019057 60.723804
TYC_3692-1234-1 10.72 none 28.60519 56.851707
MWC_708 10.151 B0 34.949137 60.653828
MWC_57 8.926 OBe 42.556728 62.091873
TYC_4046-1453-1 9.841 B9V 35.001319 60.507534
BD+66_64 9.115 (B9) 12.575336 67.177139
MWC_17 11.07 unclB[e] 26.9103 60.699281
EM*_GGA_197 10.873 B5III 41.526733 61.906662
EM*_CDS_144 10.822 B 21.149387 58.212612
TYC_3683-1262-1 10.088 none 23.988951 58.15358
MWC_450 10.209 Be 36.535443 60.802032
EM*_GGA_149 11.493 none 34.520891 61.154343
TYC_4463-1138-1 10.361 none 334.244394 67.645844
VES_735 10.641 O8.5V 35.029876 61.118198
TYC_4056-415-1 9.682 B5 43.435726 64.718582
TYC_4060-96-1 9.226 none 45.788956 66.906211
TYC_4306-1125-1 9.443 B8V 2.012203 73.543236
V741_Per 9.803 symB[e] 61.345146 49.199093
EM*_CDS_468 8.883 B9 77.210687 41.74061
BD+52_856 8.462 Ash 69.071922 52.506039
SS_20 8.483 B3 69.014006 36.667543
BD+32_1046 9.966 B3 84.064824 32.954043
TYC_2400-1784-1 11.197 none 75.147812 35.87139
ALS_8227 10.601 (B) 78.10277 48.281612
TYC_2391-231-1 10.973 F 72.662581 32.721865
BD+52_991 8.063 B8 86.08029 52.695479
BD+47_1108 9.763 A0 78.179108 47.907562
TYC_4076-1300-1 10.312 none 63.226164 66.788986
WISE_J044231.14+383046.9 11.198 none 70.629755 38.513052
TYC_3347-1615-1 11.113 none 71.525311 47.097668
BD+47_1002 8.189 A0 68.071141 48.282569
BD+38_1116 9.731 B3 79.932278 38.341785
TYC_2395-1302-1 11.366 none 72.027146 33.987801
EM*_CDS_427 10.5 B8 67.762689 41.774711
TYC_3727-1849-1 9.921 none 66.424058 56.258179
BD+54_764 9.049 (B9) 65.503584 54.512065
EM*_CDS_496 9.235 OB 82.040352 35.281672
MWC_475 8.525 A5 69.770378 41.250037
TYC_2405-1358-1 9.99 none 86.404728 30.123707
GSC_02391-00257 10.05 A3 72.380609 33.2192
TYC_3359-985-1 8.393 B9III 83.551698 45.278061
MWC_488 8.612 A0e 79.194772 30.379331
BD+63_547 9.114 A0 74.138819 63.765727
??? 11.634 none 71.812851 33.320969
BD+31_1154 9.338 B8 89.762104 31.030231
[KAG2008]_15739 13.257 none 45.007953 61.003689
[KAG2008]_16953 13.01 B8.5 45.339985 60.482407
BD+37_1093 9.289 B5 78.38457 38.109672
VES_828 11.449 none 70.836085 47.910702
BD+43_1049 8.394 B3III 71.455735 43.391743
BD+38_1712 8.346 A0 108.419086 38.108398
BD+34_1318 8.981 A2 94.746716 34.230613
BD-06_4858 9.703 B9IV 280.952471 -6.138558
TYC_5121-940-1 10.938 none 280.088342 -4.920209
BD-02_4698 9.623 (B) 280.306918 -2.793906
MWC_297 8.539 HAeB[e] 276.914696 -3.831124
GSC_05692-00540 11.054 B7 279.742486 -8.462945
HIP_91591 9.484 B8Ve 280.186057 -7.973366
BD-07_4647 10.203 B5 279.995781 -7.553847
GSC_05692-00399 11.289 B7 280.209061 -7.683855
TYC_5692-1370-1 11.368 B7 280.187522 -7.679414
TYC_5126-2325-1 11.156 none 281.293777 -5.753351
MWC_952 8.165 O9.7Ia 280.873788 -9.320196
WISE_J182959.95-090837.6 11.772 none 277.49985 -9.143768
BD-07_4630 9.832 B9 278.994932 -7.741873
SS_412 11.43 OB:e 280.854839 -3.652795
BD-09_4724 10.203 (A0IV) 276.332991 -9.304554

Valerie
Valerie Desnoux
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Re: Call for monitoring Be stars in the TESS sectors

Post by Valerie Desnoux »

Hi

For TESS BeSS stars of mag <8 here is a "book" of their past records in BeSS
I used Vspec and its VO access to BeSS to generate the thumbnails and film composer feature to make a png.
I had to design some code here to generate them from a list and not manually .

As pdf file are not accepted as attached file on the forum - here is a link

http://astrosurf.com/vdesnoux/arasforum/TESS.pdf

Valerie
Robin Leadbeater
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Re: Call for monitoring Be stars in the TESS sectors

Post by Robin Leadbeater »

HD194779 last night (R~5500, SNR ~300).

There has been some small evolution in the last 2 days. (The profile is now symmetric.) Valerie's book of spectra shows a similar event in 2014
(Tellurics removed, rectified, filtered to match resolution)
hd194779_20190829-31.png
hd194779_20190829-31.png (32.36 KiB) Viewed 21855 times
No short term variation above the noise between 4x 30min spectra (SNR~150)
hd194779_20190831_840_Leadbeater.png
hd194779_20190831_840_Leadbeater.png (71.3 KiB) Viewed 21855 times
Robin
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J Labadie Bartz
Posts: 46
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2019 5:12 pm

Re: Call for monitoring Be stars in the TESS sectors

Post by J Labadie Bartz »

Valerie Desnoux wrote:Hi

Here the list of the TESS stars which are NOT in BeSS - just copy paste the list to one of your favorite excel tool

alt_ID Tmag ST RA DEC
BD+30_3853 7.007 B7V 300.244753 31.230478
MWC_314 7.678 sgB[e]? 290.39156 14.882506
...

Valerie
Hi Valerie,

I should caution here that some of the stars in the TESS spreadsheet linked to in this thread are NOT classical Be stars. For example, the second object on the list here is of suspected spectral type sgB[e], so a supergiant B[e] star with forbidden emission lines form a large but not-dense circumstellar disk/shell. Some others are main-sequence B stars with strong magnetic fields that confine circumstellar gas, producing H emission. Stars like this will mostly be assigned priority = 0 for the purpose of monitoring classical Be stars simultaneous with TESS, but they remain on the list because they may still be interesting objects to study. Sorry if this is obvious and didn't need stating- I just don't want to give the impression that every star on the spreadsheet is a classical Be star (although the vast majority are).

The PDF 'book' you compiled of the bright TESS/BeSS stars is a very nice way to visualize the changing Halpha lines. Thanks for putting that together!


An important aspect is still missing from my spreadsheet! In general it does not include any Be stars brighter than V = 6 (or fainter than V=13, but that is of little consequence). This is because the original dataset I used to study Be stars with photometry was saturated brighter than V=6.5. TESS is able to provide excellent LCs for stars as bright as V = 4 (at the limit of saturation), and even brighter if LCs are carefully extracted for saturated stars (i.e. a good LC can be extracted for V=2 star). Of course, some of the most well-studied Be stars are brighter than V=6, and higher quality spectra is easier to acquire. The 'robot' file that Olivier linked to includes what I believe is a list of all BeSS stars. I will take the info for all of these stars brighter than V=6, cross-match them with the TESS observing strategy to know which sectors they fall in, and will update the spreadsheet. I will try to do this ASAP.
J Labadie Bartz
Posts: 46
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2019 5:12 pm

Re: Call for monitoring Be stars in the TESS sectors

Post by J Labadie Bartz »

I have added the Be stars from BeSS brighter than V = 6 to the spreadsheet. Please let me know if you notice any omissions or errors- I had to do these in a more manual way compared to the original list. Because I do not have light curves available for these brighter stars, it will be more difficult to assign a priority (which is based largely on likelihood of showing 'flickers' or mass ejection during the short 27d TESS observing window). There may be historical light curves from the AAVSO, or other surveys like ASAS-SN that are available, but I haven't had the time to check yet. At any rate, I figured it is useful for everyone to know when these bright stars are being observed by TESS.

I am confused about V1362_Cyg, a high priority target currently being observed in TESS sectors 14-15. This is a high priority on the list because:
1) historical BeSS observations show Halpha variability, always double-peaked, and without an exceptionally strong disk
2) KELT light curve shows apparent flickering at short timescales
--> high likelihood of observing photometric flickers with TESS simultaneous with spectroscopy tracing disk build-up/evolution (under the assumption that this is a classical Be star)

More recent spec. observations do indeed show Halpha variability on short timescales which at first glance is exactly what was hoped for. Now looking at the spectra closer I'm not sure what to think. There is no question that Halpha is varying. But is this a classical Be star with a highly variable disk (i.e. recent variable mass ejection history)? Reasons to be skeptical this is a classical Be star:
1) The V/R variations are rather extreme for timescales of just days.
2) Strange morphology in the Hbeta line. I don't know what to make of this. Even more strange is that in the most recent echelle spectrum from Charbonnel, the Hbeta line shows double-peaked emission that is seemingly normal for a classical Be star, except that it is very clearly blue-shifted with respect to the absorption profile of the line (see attached img.).
3) Apparent large RV shifts in the He 6678 line (which is possibly more narrow than expected?). I haven't looked into this carefully yet but the effect seems real.

Points 2 and 3 are suggestive of... something involving a binary system. What that 'something' is, I have no idea. Further, I don't know if this rules out a classical Be scenario without a more thorough analysis and maybe more data. I don't see anything obviously unusual in the SED. Simbad lists this as a B5II:n star, so the luminosity class II is a bit of a red flag. Curious to hear if anyone has seen something similar to this or has any thoughts on the matter. I'll try to do some more digging in the mean time.
Attachments
Hbeta_Charbonnel
Hbeta_Charbonnel
sp_0208982.png (3.9 KiB) Viewed 21796 times
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