Sun as a star: Rotation rates from the Ca K-index

Daily measurements for 18 months made at Tucson of the Ca K-index in integrated sunlight have been used to derive solar rotation rates. Power spectral analysis shows that one can obtain a well defined value of solar rotation rate in a period of six months, provided the data are fairly continuous. One might suppose it is possible to study the variation of solar (or stellar) rotation rate with time, a variation arising from a combination of differential rotation and shifts in the active latitude. A comparison between our observed rates and the prevailing dominant activity zones does not support this supposition, at least for the interval studied. Rather, our rates seem to depend on the circumstances of sampling and active region birth and decay.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation.