Oscillations in the Sun were first observed in the 1960s. Giant stars with masses similar to the Sun's pulsate much more slowly, and the corresponding brightness changes can be hundreds of times greater. For the Sun, these variations amount to a few parts per million. This motion produces waves of changing pressure - sound waves - that interact, ultimately driving stable oscillations with periods of a few minutes that produce subtle brightness changes.
Just below the surfaces of stars like the Sun, hot gas rises, cools, and then sinks, where it heats up again, much like a pan of boiling water on a hot stove. This can result in orderly motion called standing waves, which create the tones in musical instruments. Sound waves traveling through any object - a guitar string, an organ pipe, or the interiors of Earth and the Sun - can reflect and interact, reinforcing some waves and canceling out others. The Astrophysical Journal has accepted a paper describing the findings, led by Hon. 2 to 6 - where scientists discuss all aspects of the mission.
Hon presented the research during the second TESS Science Conference, an event supported by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge - held virtually from Aug. But its sensitive measurements of stellar brightness make TESS ideal for studying stellar oscillations, an area of research called asteroseismology. TESS primarily hunts for worlds beyond our solar system, also known as exoplanets.
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