Re: Call for monitoring Be stars in the TESS sectors
Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2020 3:43 pm
Hi all,
In about one month from now, TESS will begin to observe sector 32 (2020-Nov-19 to 2020-Dec-17), followed by sector 33 (2020-Dec-17 to 2021-Jan-13). The next three months are probably the most exciting time to observe Be stars along with TESS. Even though there are very few Be stars being observed between now and Nov. 19, we can start to observe stars that will be visited by TESS in sectors 32 and 33 to build up more of a spectroscopic baseline. That way, when TESS is observing them, it will be easier for us to tell if the star is building up or dissipating a disk.
Importantly, the best TESS targets for the next three months are visible from both hemispheres! I've been updating the TESS Be target list and observing schedule (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing) with notes and a priority scheme, and applying for telescope time and coordinating observations for many of these targets. Any observations of these targets will be useful for forthcoming studies where we analyze the spec. + phot. data together to better understand the relationships between the star and the disk. Higher SNR observations are best, since we may be looking for small changes in emission over just a few days. But, I think even lower SNR observations can be useful to keep track of longer term changes (i.e. has the disk grown or changed between now and the end of the TESS light curve?).
For example, here's a plot of TESS data from last year for one of these stars- OT_Gem = TIC 14498757. These sharp brightening events are almost definitely related to very quick mass ejection episodes, and it would be great to see how the emission lines respond. If anyone is curious to see more of these TESS light curves, I can make a folder with most of them for the stars in the spreadsheet available.
In about one month from now, TESS will begin to observe sector 32 (2020-Nov-19 to 2020-Dec-17), followed by sector 33 (2020-Dec-17 to 2021-Jan-13). The next three months are probably the most exciting time to observe Be stars along with TESS. Even though there are very few Be stars being observed between now and Nov. 19, we can start to observe stars that will be visited by TESS in sectors 32 and 33 to build up more of a spectroscopic baseline. That way, when TESS is observing them, it will be easier for us to tell if the star is building up or dissipating a disk.
Importantly, the best TESS targets for the next three months are visible from both hemispheres! I've been updating the TESS Be target list and observing schedule (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing) with notes and a priority scheme, and applying for telescope time and coordinating observations for many of these targets. Any observations of these targets will be useful for forthcoming studies where we analyze the spec. + phot. data together to better understand the relationships between the star and the disk. Higher SNR observations are best, since we may be looking for small changes in emission over just a few days. But, I think even lower SNR observations can be useful to keep track of longer term changes (i.e. has the disk grown or changed between now and the end of the TESS light curve?).
For example, here's a plot of TESS data from last year for one of these stars- OT_Gem = TIC 14498757. These sharp brightening events are almost definitely related to very quick mass ejection episodes, and it would be great to see how the emission lines respond. If anyone is curious to see more of these TESS light curves, I can make a folder with most of them for the stars in the spreadsheet available.