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Published Online May 31, 2007
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1143205

Reports

Submitted on March 29, 2007
Accepted on May 23, 2007

Imaging the Surface of Altair

John D. Monnier 1*, M. Zhao 1, E. Pedretti 2, N. Thureau 3, M. Ireland 4, P. Muirhead 5, J.-P. Berger 6, R. Millan-Gabet 7, G. Van Belle 7, T. ten Brummelaar 8, H. McAlister 8, S. Ridgway 9, N. Turner 8, L. Sturmann 8, J. Sturmann 8, D. Berger 1

1 Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
2 University of St. Andrews, Fife KY16 9AJ, Scotland, UK.
3 University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK.
4 California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
5 Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA.
6 Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, F-38041 Grenoble Cédex 9, France.
7 Michelson Science Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
8 Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA), Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302, USA.
9 National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
John D. Monnier , E-mail: monnier{at}umich.edu

Spatially resolving the surfaces of nearby stars promises to advance our knowledge of stellar physics. Using optical long-baseline interferometry, we present here a near-infrared image of the rapidly rotating hot star Altair with <1 milliarcsecond resolution. The image clearly reveals the strong effect of gravity darkening on the highly-distorted stellar photosphere. Standard models for a uniformly rotating star can not explain our results, requiring differential rotation, alternative gravity darkening laws, or both.




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)