Measuring surface gravity in Sun-like stars

Variations in the brightness of solar-type stars are driven by many factors including granulation, a consequence of heat convection below the photosphere. And as granulation is correlated with surface gravity, variations in brightness can be used as a measure of surface gravity. Fabienne Bastien et al. analyse archival data from NASA's Kepler mission and show that brightness fluctuations on timescales of less than 8 hours are correlated with the surface gravity in Sun-like stars in various evolutionary phases. Using straightforward measurements of this type it should be possible to determine the surface gravities of many of the stars observed by Kepler.