Flare stars

[Lew or Donna Cook]

Hi All and Seasons greetings!

Dave asked several questions about flare stars. They are really exciting
to observe flaring! I have seen one flare on a flare star. They are not
something I  have spent a lot of time observing, but if you're not in
another intensive observing program one night, they are fun! When they
flare. Otherwise, watch the TV and check the star every five or ten
minutes.

Here are the observations from my good set of flare observations of V371
ORI observed January 7-8 1982 UT with my 44 cm Newtonian. The star is
normally around magnitude 11.6. Other nights it was around 11.6 when I
checked it.

JD 4977+

0.705 11.6
0.720 11.4
0.725 11.6
0.730 11.3
0.732 11.3

0.736 10.9
0.740 10.7
0.741 10.7
0.743 10.6
0.745 10.7

0.749 10.8
0.750 10.9
0.752 10.9
0.755 10.9
0.759 11.0

0.765 11.0
0.767 11.0
0.770 11.2
0.774 11.3
0.776 11.3

0.781 11.1
0.785 11.3
0.790 11.4
0.793 11.3
0.797 11.5

0.801 11.5
0.803 11.6
0.806 11.4
0.810 11.4

That is up and down in about 2 hours. It is more like watching an
eclipsing binary eclipse except that the timing of the flares is
unpredictable. And it goes up and then down! I leave the theory and
frequency of flares to the others, but reliving the excitement of the
flare today was fun. 

Regards, Lew