Luyten's Flare Star, 0134-18 UV Ceti

Cloudy little Holland breeds eminent astronomers the way Sicily breeds Mafia mobsters. Think of Huygens, van Biesbroek, Oort, Bok, van den Bos, Walrafen and many more.

Willem Luytens, who died recently, was a self-proclaimed curmudgeon and astronomical skeptic. UV Ceti was discovered by him and what an interesting system it turned out to be! Burnham describes it as a red dwarf binary system containing two of the smallest and faintest stars yet identified. Occasionally, a flare erupts on one component, outshining the combined light of the two stars by a factor of up to 75. Remarkably, the flare rises to maximum light in seconds.

I have spent many hours monitoring this pair visually without seeing one of its spectacular flares. Watching it is a good occupation if you want to shed the cares of the day in an atmosphere of tranquility. If, however, you want to make a scientific study of its behaviour over a long period, you should consider using a telescope equipped with an autoguide facility and a suitable light detector such as a strip of 35mm film, a PEP or a CCD.

I will gladly discuss the technical aspects with anyone wanting to do real science, using a tireless telescope which does all the work while the operator sleeps.

Enjoy UV Ceti, whichever way you monitor it.

Danie Overbeek.