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A Study of Some Flare Stars

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Susan Nygard

Maria Mitchell Observatory, Nantucket, Massachusetts

Although short-lived stellar brightenings had been reported several times prior to 1948, it was Luyten's observations of UV Ceti that started serious study of the stars known as flare stars.  Luyten reported a flare of more than 2.5 magnitudes on star L 726-B (UV Ceti) on 7 December 1948 and calculated a minimum excess energy of 4 x 10^31 ergs necessary to produce the outburst. This flare observation was confirmed by another flare observed by Luyten. Searching through the partol plates in the Harvard collection, Shapley reported brightenings back to 1900. A complete tabulation would today yield over 100 known flares of UV Ceti.