Mauve: a UV-Vis satellite dedicated to monitor stellar activity and variability

Mauve is a satellite equipped with a 13-cm telescope and a UV-Visible spectrometer (with an

operative wavelength range of 200-700 nm) conceived to measure stellar magnetic activity and

variability. The science program will be delivered via a multi-year collaborative survey program,

with thousands of hours each year available for long baseline observations of hundreds of stars,

unlocking a significant time domain astronomy opportunity. Mauve’s mission lifetime is 3 years

with the ambition of 5 years, and will cover a broad field of regard (–46.4 to 31.8 degrees in ICRS)

during this period.

 

This facility was conceived to support pilot studies and new ideas in science and is fully dedicated

to time-domain astronomy. The main surveys to be executed by Mauve are monitoring of

- Flare stars (flares, depending on their energy and frequency, may change the chemistry of planetary atmospheres, power prebiotic chemistry, produce surface biosignatures, or deprive exoplanets of their atmospheres totally)

- Herbig Ae/Be stars (which host protoplanetary disks and few of them are young exoplanet hosts/candidate exoplanet hosts)

- Confirmed exoplanet hosts,

- Contact binary variables (RS CVn variables, symbiotic stars, Algol-type stars, etc.), with several of them hosting exoplanets, such as AF Lep, the recently discovered benchmark system to be studied for exoplanet atmosphere characterisation for its unique features.

Besides these major science themes, the spectrometer’s data can be utilized to support and complement existing and upcoming facilities as a pathfinder, or conduct simultaneous/follow-up observations.