Image: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
BCool is a multinational, long-term research project observing the activity and magnetic fields of “cool stars” whose surface temperature is similar to the Sun or cooler.
This research uses the spectra of stars including those observed in polarised light (spectropolarimetry) and analysis that constructs images (or maps) of stellar surface activity and magnetic fields (Doppler Imaging and Zeeman Doppler Imaging).
The results are used to study the internal dynamos that produce stellar magnetic fields and activity, and provide an observational basis for modelling the stellar winds and “space weather” that can impact orbiting planets. Studies of young Solar-type stars trace our Sun’s early history of intense activity.
UniSQ staff are on the BCool leadership team, and the project is complemented by magnetic studies of other stellar types.
