SUMMARY OF PROPOSAL 62028

DR. STEPHEN M. WHITE
WHITE@ASTRO.UMD.EDU

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND

COLLEGE PARK
MD USA 20742
Tel: (301) 405 1547 Fax: (301) 314 9067
Medium: CD ROM
Subject: STARS

THE X-RAY SPECTRUM AND ABUNDANCES OF THE PECULIAR GIII GIANT AY CETI


ABSTRACT

AY Ceti is an evolved binary system consisting of a white dwarf and a G III star. It is a strong X-ray source and a variable radio source, and is often linked to to the RS CVn class of active binary stars. However, it has some properties which are very different from those of most RS CVns, notably a relatively long period (57 days), an X-ray luminosity (10^31 ergs/s) well above the usual rotation-luminosity curve, and photospheric abundance anomalies. We propose an ASCA observation of 50 ksec in order to determine the properties of the corona and to compare them with the similar but younger and less-evolved Capella system, to measure the coronal abundances, and to look for flaring.

CO-INVESTIGATORS
CO-I NAME INSTITUTE COUNTRY

TARGETS

TARGET NAMEPRIRADECTIMETCOFFGISSIS CNTOBS
1)AY CETI
1
19.1521 -2.4994 50 ksN
N
P
0.50000
1