Description
We study the connection between the chromospheric and photospheric behaviour of the active late-type star FK Comae. We use spot temperature modelling, light curve inversion based on narrow- and wide-band photometric measurements, Halpha observations from 1997-2010, and Doppler maps from 2004-2010 to compare the behaviour of chromospheric and photospheric features. Investigating low-resolution H{alpha} spectra we find that the changes in the chromosphere seem to happen mainly on a time scale longer than a few hours, but shorter variations were also observed. According to the Halpha measurements prominences are often found in the chromosphere that reach to more than a stellar radius and are stable for weeks, and which seem to be often, but not every time connected with dark photospheric spots. The rotational modulation of the H{alpha} emission seems to typically be anticorrelated with the light curve, but we did not find convincing evidence of a clear connection in the long-term trends of the Halpha emission and the brightness of the star. In addition, FK Com seems to be in an unusually quiet state in 2009-2010 with very little chromospheric activity and low spot contrast, that might indicate the long-term decrease of activity.
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