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Science 19 June 2009:
Vol. 324. no. 5934, pp. 1540 - 1542
DOI: 10.1126/science.1171913
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Reports

Solar-Like Oscillations in a Massive Star

Kévin Belkacem,1,2,* Réza Samadi,1 Marie-Jo Goupil,1 Laure Lefèvre,1 Fréderic Baudin,3 Sébastien Deheuvels,1 Marc-Antoine Dupret,1,2 Thierry Appourchaux,3 Richard Scuflaire,2 Michel Auvergne,1 Claude Catala,1 Eric Michel,1 Andrea Miglio,2 Josefina Montalban,2 Anne Thoul,2 Suzanne Talon,4 Annie Baglin,1 Arlette Noels2

Seismology of stars provides insight into the physical mechanisms taking place in their interior, with modes of oscillation probing different layers. Low-amplitude acoustic oscillations excited by turbulent convection were detected four decades ago in the Sun and more recently in low-mass main-sequence stars. Using data gathered by the Convection Rotation and Planetary Transits mission, we report here on the detection of solar-like oscillations in a massive star, V1449 Aql, which is a known large-amplitude (β Cephei) pulsator.

1 Laboratoire d’Études Spatiales et d’Instrumentation en Astrophysique, CNRS (UMR 8109), Observatoire de Paris, Place J. Janssen, F- 92195 Meudon, France; associated with Université Pierre et Marie Curie and Université Denis Diderot.
2 Institut d’Astrophysique et de Géophysique de l’Université de Liège, Allée du 6 Août 17–B 4000 Liège, Belgium.
3 Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Université Paris-Sud 11 and CNRS (UMR 8617), Batiment 121, F-91405 Orsay, France.
4 Réseau Québécois de Calcul de Haute Performance, Université de Montréal, Casier Postal 6128, Succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec H3C 3J8, Canada.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kevin.belkacem{at}ulg.ac.be

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