Starspots on LO Pegasi

Starspots are cooler, darker regions on the surface of a star in which strong magnetic fields cause the suppression of convection, which is the primary method of energy transfer in the outer layers of Sun-like stars. LO Pegasi is a rapidly rotating young solar analog (P = 10.153 hours vs. ~1 month for the Sun). This induces a stronger magnetic field and much larger spots than those on the Sun. As the star's rotation carries the spots in and out of view of Earth, they have a significant impact on the star’s brightness. We acquired CCD camera images over three nights on 7–9 July 2018 through standard B, V, R, and I photometric filters. The brightness variations of LO Pegasi were determined using differential aperture photometry by comparing it to a known, stable reference star. These brightness variations were then inputted into a light curve inversion program to produce maps of the starspot distribution across the surface. The resulting light curves and models are presented and compared to previous years’ findings to illustrate how the starspots on LO Pegasi has changed over time.