Measuring the Sun’s radial velocity variability due to supergranulation over a magnetic cycle

Journal article

In recent years, supergranulation has emerged as one of the biggest challenges for the detection of Earth-twins in radial velocity planet searches. We used eight years of Sun-as-a-star radial velocity observations from HARPS-N to measure the quiet-Sun’s granulation and supergranulation properties of most of its 11-yr activity cycle, after correcting for the effects of magnetically active regions using two independent methods. In both cases, we observe a clear, order of magnitude variation in the time-scale of the supergranulation component, which is largest at activity minimum and is strongly anticorrelated with the relative Sunspot number. We also explored a range of observational strategies which could be employed to characterize supergranulation in stars other than the Sun, showing that a comparatively long observing campaign of at least 23 nights is required, but that up to 10 stars can be monitored simultaneously in the process. We conclude by discussing plausible explanations for the ‘supergranulation’ cycle.

Authors: O’Sullivan, NK; Aigrain, S; Cretignier, M; Lakeland, B; Klein, B

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
• Volume: 541
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 3942-3962
• Publication date: 2025-07-16
• Acceptance date: 2025-07-04
• DOI: 10.1093/mnras/staf1168
• EISSN: 1365-2966
• ISSN: 0035-8711
• Language: English
• Keywords: techniques: radial velocities; Sun: granulation; methods: data analysis