The new era of asteroseismology

Stellar Astrophysics Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 120, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark

Abstract

New observations of stellar pulsations, particularly from the CoRoT and Kepler space missions, have opened completely new possibilities for asteroseismic investigations for stars in large parts of the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. Particularly dramatic has been the development of asteroseismology of stars showing solar-like oscillations, where hundreds of stars near the main sequence and tens of thousands of red giants can now be investigated. Although the analysis of the data have yielded extensive information about the global properties of the stars we are still only at the beginning of learning how to use the data for more profound studies of stellar interiors. Here I give a brief overview of the observations and discuss the potential contributions to the understanding of stellar physics.