Microvariability

As measurement techniques continue to improve, many "standard stars" used in photometry, Doppler velocity, and astrometry have been found to be variable. Approximately 10% of the 118,000 stars observed by the Hipparcos mission were found to be variable at levels above 3 millimags. The following sections sketch some of the most prominent types of variability and discuss the low-level types of variability expected for solar-like stars. Observations over many years have shown that most types of stars show some variability. Here only a few of the processes that give rise to variability will be summarized. Then the variability of solar-like stars will be discussed.