Stellar Variability and Flare Rates from Dome A, Antarctica using 2009 and 2010 CSTAR Observations

TL;DR

This study used Antarctic observations from CSTAR to analyze stellar variability and flare rates, demonstrating the potential of small telescopes in extreme conditions for transient detection and providing flare rate estimates for different star types.

Contribution

It presents the first large-scale analysis of stellar flares from Dome A using CSTAR data, highlighting the capabilities and limitations of small-aperture telescopes in Antarctic conditions.

Findings

Detected 29 stellar flaring events over 3 years.

Estimated flare rates for late-K and M dwarfs.

No transient events were found during the observations.

Abstract

The Chinese Small Telescope ARray (CSTAR) carried out high-cadence time-series observations of 20.1 square degrees centered on the South Celestial Pole during the 2008, 2009 & 2010 winter seasons from Dome A in Antarctica. The nearly-continuous 6 months of dark conditions during each observing season allowed for >10^6 images to be collected through gri and clear filters, resulting in the detection of >10^4 sources over the course of 3 years of operation. The nearly space-like conditions in the Antarctic plateau are an ideal testbed for the suitability of very small-aperture (<20 cm) telescopes to detect transient events, variable stars and stellar flares. We present the results of a robust search for such objects using difference image analysis of the data obtained during the 2009 & 2010 winter seasons. While no transients were found, we detected 29 flaring events and find a normalized flaring rate of 5+\-4x10^-7 flare/hour for late-K dwarfs, 1+\-1x10^-6 flare/hour for M dwarfs and 7+\-1x10^-7 flare/hour for all other stars in our sample. We suggest future small-aperture telescopes planned for deployment at Dome A would benefit from a tracking mechanism, to help alleviate effects from ghosting, and a finer pixel scale, to increase the telescope's sensitivity to faint objects. We find that the light curves of non-transient sources have excellent photometric qualities once corrected for systematics, and are limited only by photon noise and atmospheric scintillation.