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S.J. Wolk (CfA), E. Flaccomio (OAPA), F.R. Harnden (CfA), G. Micela (OAPA), E.D. Feigelson (Penn State University), Chandra Orion Ultradeep Project (COUP) Collaboration
In January 2003, the Chandra X-ray Observatory performed a nearly continuous 15 day observation of the of the Orion Nebular Cluster. The Chandra Orion Ultradeep Project (COUP) detected over 1600 sources. This is a progress report on a subset of the COUP data -- a study of the solar type stars in the ONC. Our goal is to understand the affect of solar X-rays on our planetary system during the early stages of its formation. Given the length of the COUP observation we are able to clearly distinguish nominal and elevated periods for all stars. We follow a four step procedure to cull the essential data from this massive dataset: 1) We discuss the selection of solar mass stars from over 1600 in the COUP dataset. 2) We then outline our working definitions of flaring and nominal emission in which we focus on studying interface between blocks of constant flux as the key to understanding the state of the star. 3) We analyze the lightcurves of the 30 sources individually. 4) We derive the flare frequency in young solar-type stars, as function of time scale and amplitude in order to understand the energy released in flares during the planetary system formation. Preliminary results indicate a little more than one flare per star on average, but that these flares are small in scale, relative to X-class flares on the Sun.
We acknowledge the CXC and HRC contracts (NAS8-39073 and NAS8-38248) for partial support of the work at SAO as well as Chandra grant SAO GO3-4009A (Feigelson PI).
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.