Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
9-2025
Document Type
Master's Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Program
Astrophysics
Advisor
Lucy Lu
Committee Members
Jillian Bellovary
Subject Categories
Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Keywords
starspots, stars, light curve inversion
Abstract
Star spots are patches that are dark or bright on the surface of a star. They are tightly correlated to the magnetic activity of stars. One of the reasons we want to study star spots is to better understand where the active latitude of stars are located, which helps us understand planet habitability around low mass stars. The Starry package is a set of tools that can map the surface of stars and exoplanets using time series data, with spherical harmonics. Butterpy is a package that allows for the simulation of starspot evolution and their lightcurves. Fleck is a package that simulates rotational modulation of stars by generating individual spots. Using simulated light curves generated from Butterpy, we compare how Fleck and Starry generate starspots and fit lightcurves. We find Starry is able to robustly predict activity levels of the simulated light curves with the spherical harmonic power outputs.
Recommended Citation
Refat, Mohammad, "Starspot Inference Using Light Curve Inversion Techniques" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/6480
