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Spot Activity Of The Rs Canum Venaticorum Star Σ Geminorum, Perttu Kajatkari, Thomas Hackman, Lauri Jetsu, Jyri J. Lehtinen, Gregory W. Henry

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

Aims. We model the photometry of RS CVn star σ Geminorum to obtain new information on the changes of the surface starspot distribution, that is, activity cycles, differential rotation, and active longitudes.

Methods. We used the previously published continuous period search (CPS) method to analyse V-band differential photometry obtained between the years 1987 and 2010 with the T3 0.4 m Automated Telescope at the Fairborn Observatory. The CPS method divides data into short subsets and then models the light-curves with Fourier-models of variable orders and provides estimates of the mean magnitude, amplitude, period, and light-curve minima. These light-curve parameters …