Asteroseismology from Space: WIRE Monitoring of the δ Sct Star θ2 Tauri

Abstract

Soon after launch in March 1999, the primary science instrument onboard the Wide-Field Infrared Explorer (WIRE) satellite failed due to loss of coolant. However, it proved possible to begin an asteroseismology program using the 52-mm aperture star camera. A few bright stars were monitored with the 512x512 SITe CCD in a bandpass approximately equivalent to V + R; further details about the orbit, the detector and the raw data reduction can be found in Buzasi et al. (2000) and Buzasi (2000). We included the binary star θ2 Tauri among the targets. It is composed of an A7IV primary and an A5V secondary (P = 140.728 d). The primary is a a δ Scuti star which has been observed several times in the last twenty years. Five terms have been determined in its light curve (Breger, 1989 and references therein); Li et al. (1997) demonstrated the amplitude variability of some of these terms by comparing different campaigns.