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the production of solar flares , the evolution and migration of sunspots , and the very origin of the sun s magnetic field are all believed to be associated with differential rotation beneath and at the solar surface . to test models of stellar dynamos , measurements of differential rotation in other stars are necessary for correlation with other parameters like magnetic variability and chromospheric activity . surface differential rotation ( sdr ) can be easily observed in the sun  with detailed observations going back to @xcite  and subsurface rotation has been inferred from helioseismic data of the sun s 5-minute p - mode oscillations ( e.g. , @xcite ) . however , it is a challenge to observe sdr directly at the surfaces of other stars . with the notable exception of ek  dra , where two spot modulations differing in period by 5.5% are simultaneously visible @xcite , evidence for sdr in most solar - type stars with prominent starspots is seen only by comparing data over many years . light variations ascribed to rotational modulation sometimes change in period from epoch to epoch , and the most natural explanation is that the dominant spot systems appear at different latitudes and move with different rotation periods ( e.g. , @xcite ; @xcite ) . doppler imaging of some solar - type stars from epoch to epoch has also revealed evidence for sdr ( see reviews by @xcite and @xcite ) and in at least one case , the rapidly rotating k dwarf ab  doradus , sdr was observed in the doppler maps in only a few consecutive rotations ( @xcite ) . so far , there have not yet been measurements of solar - type acoustic oscillations in any star other than the sun with sufficient frequency resolution to explore its interior rotation . the most ( microvariability & oscillations of stars ) satellite @xcite was pointed at @xmath0  ceti as part of the commissioning phase of the mission , to obtain useful science during engineering tests and debugging of the most systems . our space - based photometry has sufficient time coverage and precision to reveal sdr which is easily evident even in only three equatorial rotations of the star . the data also set the first meaningful limits on the amplitudes of p - mode oscillations in this star . @xmath0  ceti was chosen because of ( 1 ) its brightness and location in the sky at the time of these tests , ( 2 ) previous indications of spot migration and hyperactivity , and ( 3 ) its g5v spectral type , which made it a possible candidate for solar - type oscillations ; we describe the star more fully in section  [ kappa ] . the most observations are discussed in section  [ obs ] . the most - orbit binned data produce a light curve which reveals the flux rotational modulation of a young active sun - like star in unprecedented completeness and precision ( section  [ lc ] ) . we are able to relate the photometric modulations of spot visibility to periodic rotational variations of chromospheric activity seen in high - resolution spectroscopic observations of the ca  ii k emission in 2002 and 2003 ( section  [ caii ] ) , the latter obtained just before the most observations ; the same data provided a new accurate determination of @xmath7 for the star . the full temporal resolution most photometry is used to set meaningful limits on the oscillation amplitudes in this star in section  [ p - mode ] . @xmath0  cet ( hd  20630 , hip  15457 , hr  996 ; @xmath8 , @xmath9 ) is a nearby ( @xmath10 pc , @xcite ) g5v dwarf . its variability with a period of 9.09 days was detected by the _ mission @xcite . since then , several studies were aimed at reconciling apparent changes in the period , changes which can be explained by different latitudes of spot formation in different years .    as a mk spectral classification standard @xcite , @xmath0  ceti is one of the most frequently observed stars . although sometimes considered a `` very strong lined '' late - type dwarf , its metallicity may be only slightly higher than solar , @xmath11=+0.05 \pm 0.05 $ ] ( for full references , see @xcite ) . as far as it has been possible to establish , it is a single star and does not possess any large planets @xcite . its radial velocity of + 18.9 km  s@xmath12 combined with the _ hipparcos _ proper motions leads to a rather moderate spatial velocity relative to the sun , suggesting young disk population membership ( the two available estimates disagree slightly : @xcite , @xmath13 , @xmath14 and @xmath15 ; @xcite @xmath16 , @xmath17 and @xmath18 ) . @xcite estimated an age of 750 myr from the relatively rapid rotation of 9.2 days seen in the spot modulation and suggested that the star is a likely member of the hyades moving group . however , @xcite considered seven moving groups of nearby young stars , but were unable to associate @xmath0  ceti with any of them .    the young age of the star was the reason for @xcite to include @xmath0  ceti in the _ the sun in time _ project which attempts to characterize young solar - type stars in terms of temporal changes taking place particularly at the epochs before terrestrial life formation @xcite . in the group of 6 such stars , with the youngest being 130 myr old , @xmath0  ceti is one of the most advanced ones with an estimated age in the @xcite study of about 650 myr . the difference in the age of 100 myr versus 750 myr of @xcite can be traced to the current uncertainty of estimates based on the rotation rate . ( note : the 8.9 day rotation period found in this paper may be taken as an indication of an even younger age ) .    as is observed for stars with activity somewhat moderated with age , the star shows an activity cycle . @xcite monitored the narrow - band ca ii h & k chromospheric fluxes photoelectrically from 1967 to 1991 expressing them in terms of the @xmath19 index . they found a rotational period of @xmath20 days @xcite with a chromospheric activity cycle of 5.6 years @xcite ; the quality of the latter determination was described as `` fair '' and longer term trends were noted . using broad band photometry , @xcite observed a photometric activity cycle of of @xmath21 years between 1990 and 1999 , with a rotational period of 9.214 days .    on 24 january 1986 , @xcite caught the signature of a massive flare in he  i  d@xmath22 which @xcite subsequently estimated had an energy @xmath23 ergs . @xcite speculated that such massive flares on a single solar - type star might be triggered by the magnetic field of a close giant planet such as those in 51  peg - type systems . neither @xcite nor @xcite detected any long - term periodic variability over many years in their precise radial velocity ( prv ) measurements , so there exist no dynamical perturbations consistent with a close - in giant planet ( unless the orbit is highly inclined ) . on the other hand , @xcite did find ( their figure  2 ) a rapid rv change of + 80 m  s@xmath12 in 1988.5 which was accompanied by an equally rapid increase in chromospheric activity in the ca  ii @xmath248662 line . while the rv change could be modeled by the close approach of a giant planet in a highly elliptical orbit , the tight correlation of the rv with chromospheric activity ( both positive and negative rv excursions ) pointed to a change intrinsic to the star . in section  [ rv ] we point out that , within the scatter of existing rv measurements , @xmath0  ceti could harbor in a close , high inclination orbit . the photometric observations discussed in this paper were obtained by the most ( microvariability & oscillations of stars ) microsatellite @xcite between november 5 and december 5 , 2003 , during the commissioning phases of the mission ( constraints and limitations of these phases are described in the next section  [ comm ] ) . most is canada s first orbiting space telescope , launched in june 2003 to study ( 1 ) acoustic oscillations in solar - type and magnetic peculiar stars , ( 2 ) rapid variability in hot massive stars ; and ( 3 ) reflected light from close - in giant exoplanets . the most instrument is an optical telescope ( aperture 15 cm ) feeding a ccd photometer through a single broadband optical filter ( 350  700 nm ) . thanks to its polar sun - synchronous orbit ( altitude 820 km ) , most can monitor stars in a zodiacal band of sky about @xmath25 wide for up to 8 weeks without interruption . starlight from primary science targets , such as @xmath0  ceti , i.e.  brighter than @xmath26 , is projected onto the ccd as a fixed image of the telescope pupil covering about 1500 pixels for high photometric stability and insensitivity to detector flatfield and radiation effects on individual pixels . as has already been demonstrated for procyon @xcite , most is capable of reaching in that mode a photometric precision of about @xmath27 part per million ( ppm ) to search for oscillations in very bright stars .    despite limitations during commissioning ( see the next section ) , the most data of @xmath0  ceti achieved a duty cycle of about 96% over a time span of 30.5 days ( with only three gaps of a few hours each ) , with 40-second exposures obtained approximately once per minute . at the time these data were obtained , this was the longest uninterrupted observational coverage of any star other than the sun . ( most has since exceeded this duty cycle and time coverage on other targets , including procyon : @xcite . ) most was designed to be highly stable photometrically over periods of hours and self - calibrating ( see the discussion in @xcite ) , consequently the measurements are non - differential . for some primary science targets , fainter secondary science targets in the adjacent direct - focus field may allow us to search for systematic drifts in the photometry , but no such stars were observed with a sufficient s / n for @xmath0  ceti . the most photometry is performed in a single spectral band , with a filter about twice as wide as the johnson @xmath28 filter and slightly redward of it @xcite , without reference to comparison stars or flux standards . thus , there is no direct connection to any photometric system and hence , no absolute calibration of the most photometry . because of this , the original data ( expressed in analog - to - digital intensity units or adu ) were normalized to unity at the maximum observed flux of the star , occurring at jd 2,452,953.0 . all variation amplitudes in this paper are also expressed in these relative units .    to investigate rotational modulation in @xmath0  ceti , the 40-second exposures were binned according to the 101.4-min orbital period of the most satellite , increasing the signal - to - noise per data point and minimizing the influence of orbital variations in the photometric background due to stray earthlight . the electronic - version table  [ tab1 ] lists the most orbit - averaged photometry , and those points are plotted in the upper panel of figure  [ fig1 ] . the formal mean standard error of a single data point is 0.77 mmag ( 770 parts per million or ppm ) , which is about twice the error calculated from the detected photon shot - noise . the simple average of 101 individual 40 sec integrations would give an error of @xmath29 ppm , which is not far from what is observed as the actual scatter of about 200 ppm  which includes the intrinsic variability of the star . some of the photometric noise is certainly intrinsic to the star ( e.g. , granulation variations , given the star s activity ) and some is undoubtedly due to a non - poisson instrumental noise resulting from the significant pointing scatter and the removal of the ( noisy ) stray light background signal ( see the next section ) . the sky background removed from the data shown in figure  [ fig1 ] varied from about 21 to 25% of the maximum flux measured from the star ( on jd  2,452,953 ) ; the background variations are plotted in figure  [ fig2 ] . the background light is due primarily to light entering the instrument from the illuminated limb of the earth which is exposed to the face of the satellite with the telescope entrance aperture . during commissioning , the most team was still investigating the background and exploring ways to mitigate it for future targets ( e.g. , choosing the optimum `` roll '' orientation for the satellite ) . to correct for the sky background , which is modulated with the satellite orbital period , but varies slightly from orbit to orbit , a running averaged background phased with the orbital period was subtracted from the data . during the @xmath0 ceti observing run , the moon approached within about @xmath30 of the most target field , but we observe no correlation of the sky background with the angular separation of the moon and the target , or with the lunar phase ( see the lower panels of figure  [ fig2 ] ) . the main results of this paper are not particularly sensitive to any residual background variations which may be present . although the sky background variability is probably the fundamental limit to the long - term precision of the @xmath0  ceti photometry , we note that the 8.9-day period light photometric cycle was highly stable in the final light curve ( section  [ lc - most ] ) , indicating that the background was correctly accounted for in the most data over the duration of the @xmath0  ceti observing run . a brief description of the `` commissioning '' observations is given below as a record and explanation of certain limitations of these observations compared to the normal scientific operations of most which were initiated in january 2004 , not long after the @xmath0 ceti data were obtained . the precise photometry that most was designed to obtain is based on integrating the signal in a large image of the telescope pupil ( covering about 1500 pixels of the ccd ) projected by a fabry microlens and field stop enclosing the incoming stellar beam . in normal operations , a resolved sub - raster of the ccd with that pupil image is downloaded for every science exposure , along with fabry images of the adjacent sky backgrounds , for processing on the ground . this is known as science data stream 2 or sds2 . as a data backup , we also perform the pupil image signal integrations on board the satellite and store that information there for several days in case of extended loss of contact with our ground station network . these data are part of science data stream 1 ( sds1 ) .    during commissioning , there was an unrecognized problem with a small fraction of the onboard memory which led to computer crashes occurring roughly every @xmath31 days if both sds2 and engineering telemetry were being sent to earth . this resulted in a fraction of about 21% data sent as the fully resolved sds2 files ; the rest of our @xmath0  ceti photometry is based on sds1 data . the lack of spatially resolved fabry image data restricts our options of sky background and stray light removal . however , our later experience ( see @xcite , for the example of procyon ) shows that the quality of sds1 photometry is comparable to sds2 , although the latter is preferred . even with our routine of downloading only sds1 data , the onboard memory problem led to occasional computer crashes , which interrupted the data flow for one or more satellite orbits at a time , and accounts for most of the gaps in the light curve of figure  [ fig1 ] . the small percentage of corrupt memory locations has since been identified , and we avoid storing data there , so this problem no longer affects the most mission .    at the commissioning phase of the mission , we had not yet optimized the spacecraft pointing . the mean pointing errors were 4.5 arcsec _ rms _ in @xmath32 and 6.2 arcsec in @xmath33 , so this image wander across the fabry microlens ( with a field stop radius of 30 arcsec ) led to larger photometric errors than were later obtained during normal scientific operations . also , this limited our ability to center the target within the field stop . jitter of the star within the field stop increases noise . these are no longer serious issues for most . upgrades to the attitude control system software have led to steady improvements in pointing . observations of procyon in january february 2004 were made with pointing errors of 1.3 and 3.1 arcsec rms in @xmath32 and @xmath33 respectively ; the current pointing performance has been improved to about 1.0 arcsec rms in both axes . the current explanation of the variability observed in @xmath0  ceti is that stellar spots cause light changes at the level of 0.02 to 0.04 magnitude . the changes have been observed by several ground - based observers to have characteristic time scales of about 9 days . the most extensive studies were done by @xcite and @xcite . from 20 years of literature data , @xcite found several periods ranging between 9.14 and 9.46 days , each with uncertainty at the level of 0.03  0.05 days . @xcite conducted a careful study over 6 seasons and determined individual periods ranging between 9.045 and 9.406 days , with typical uncertainties of 0.02  0.05 days . the simplest explanation for such period changes is that spots are forming at , or migrating to different stellar latitudes , rotating with different angular velocities .    by relating the spot modulation periods to the photometric cycle , @xcite suspected that @xmath0  ceti shows an `` anti - solar '' pattern in which the period of the rotation modulation tends to increase steadily during the activity cycle . the photometric data discussed here consist of the orbit - averaged observations ( binned by intervals of 101.4 min ) corrected for sky background , as presented in table  [ tab1 ] and the upper panel of figure  [ fig1 ] . a double - wave variation is clearly evident , consisting of deep minima with a depth of about 0.04 of the maximum light , interspersed with moderately shallow depressions with amplitudes of about @xmath34 . the shallow minima progressively move relative to the deeper ones as if two close periodicities were involved . the photometry only covers about three cycles of the dominant variation , so fourier analysis is relatively ineffective at accurately identifying the periodic content of the variations . we formally recover two significant peaks at frequencies of 0.1146 and 0.2170 day@xmath12 , corresponding to periods of 8.72 and 9.22 days ( actually @xmath35 ) . because of the short duration of the observing run , these periods can not be established to better than about @xmath36 day ( figure  [ fig3 ] ) . instead of using the formal values of the derived periods , we use two periods , 8.9 and 9.3 days , which are derived by a simple folding of the data in a sequential decomposition of the light curve , starting from the largest and most regular variation :    1 . the most obvious is a periodic pattern reminiscent of an eclipsing light curve or a spot curve , the latter due to a spot or a group of spots with probably well defined edges covering a moderately large fraction of the stellar surface . this pattern has an amplitude reaching 0.04 of the maximum observed flux and a period of @xmath37 days . an average of three cycles gives a relatively stable light curve , as shown in the phase diagram of figure  [ fig4 ] . when the 8.9 day pattern is removed , another periodic variation becomes visible . this is shown in the middle panel of figure  [ fig1 ] . this pattern is less regular than the 8.9-day variation , with the minima becoming progressively deeper from about 0.005 to 0.01 over the three complete cycles . ( there is evidence that the next cycle , which is incomplete , is shallower than the preceding one . ) . the three times of minima give an approximate period of 9.3 days , where the uncertainty is harder to estimate due to the variable shapes of the dips . the middle panel of figure  [ fig1 ] suggests that either the 9.3 day pattern evolved over time or there existed residual variability from some other source , especially at the beginning of the most run . the variability was most probably intrinsic to the star , judging by the progression of the depths of the 9.3 day pattern , and the excellent agreement between the phased minima of the 8.9 day pattern . we observe no correlation in the sky background variations , shown in figure  [ fig2 ] , with the deviations from regular 9.3 day periodic pattern , shown in the middle panel of figure  [ fig1 ] ; this may be taken as indication that the sky background variations were not the cause of these irregularities . the observed periodic variations can be explained by spots formed at different stellar latitudes and carried by the rotation of the star with different angular velocities . with single - band photometry , little can be said about the type of spots , if they are hotter or cooler than the surrounding photosphere . however , two of the authors did develop two simple , entirely independent geometric spot models to try reproduce the observed light curve . the models differed in approach in that the first used the minimum number of parameters and ended up describing only the larger spot which apparently did not evolve during the most observations ; only a very simplified description could be derived for the smaller spot . the second model utilized a full set of 12 parameters required to describe two spots and the geometry of their visibility on the star . the second model was under - constrained , but its basic results fully confirmed the first model in its description of the larger spot .    in the simplest terms : the larger of the two spots , with a rotation period of 8.9 days and a relative flux amplitude of 0.039 , if entirely black and circular , would have a radius of 19% of the stellar radius or an angular radius from the star center of 11@xmath38 . the mean 8.9-day light curve is shown in figure  [ fig4 ] . since the light variations take place over slightly more than half of the rotation and the `` flat top '' is shorter than half of the rotation , the spot appears to be situated above the equator . the smaller spot , causing the 9.3-day ( or slightly longer ) periodicity , also if black and circular , must be about 12% of the stellar radius ( angular radius @xmath39 ) . any model must face the limitation that the parameter without any constraint is the unperturbed level of the light curve , @xmath40 ; we arbitrarily assumed it to be at the highest observed level ( see figure  [ fig1 ] ) , but some small spots may have been present on the surface at all times . while the spot longitude ( @xmath24 ) can be removed from the parameter list by an appropriate adjustment of the phases , even the simplest model involves several adjustable parameters : the rotation axis inclination ( @xmath41 ) , the limb darkening coefficient ( @xmath42 ) , the latitude ( @xmath43 ) , the size or the angular radius as seen from the center of the star ( @xmath44 ) , as well as the darkness ( @xmath45 ) of the spot . the darkness ( @xmath46 ) of the spot can not be estimated from the single - color data , so that the minimum size of the spot can be estimated assuming a black spot , @xmath47 . even such a highly simplified model , with several parameters fixed contains at least three fully adjustable geometrical parameters : @xmath41 , @xmath43 , @xmath44 . the best model of the larger spot fits the primary variation to better than 0.001 ( figure  [ fig4 ] ) . the relevant parameters for the star and the larger spot are ( the symbol @xmath48 means a fixed parameter ) : @xmath49 the 8.9-day spot is relatively large , and may be larger if not entirely black , so that the assumption of it being circular  especially in view of the clear evidence of the shearing differential rotation  is highly disputable . therefore , this solution should be taken as indicative rather than of much physical significance . the second model assumed two independent spots with different rotation periods . it was specified by the rotational inclination @xmath41 of the star and the limb darkening parameter @xmath42 , with all parameters describing the two spots : the radii and flux contrasts , and the latitude , initial longitude , and the rotation period for each spot . such a model required extensive tests of different combinations of parameters . while the results are inconclusive in details because of the large number ( 12 ) of weakly constrained parameters , they are fully consistent with the minimum - parameter model described above in the description of the first , 8.9-day spot . the second spot in the extended model appears to have a longer period , perhaps as long as 9.7 days , although uncertainty of the period is large and results from the obvious evolution of the second spot over time and a complex coupling with values of the remaining parameters . the models have been unable to define accurate latitudes of both spots , although the second , more complex model suggested a higher latitude for the smaller , 9.3 day spot , a situation which would correspond to the solar surface differential rotation pattern . however , there is no question from both independent analyses that the two spots have unambiguously different periods , supporting the interpretation of sdr with @xmath50  % . this is a clear evidence of surface differential rotation on @xmath0 ceti , and only the second after ek  dra @xcite where two spots were also simultaneously visible . all other inferences were based on apparent period changes @xcite , interpretation of subtle broadening effects in spectral lines , so far detectable only in the most rapidly rotating stars @xcite or doppler imaging from epoch to epoch @xcite ; for general reviews of these techniques and their limitations , see @xcite , @xcite and @xcite . the most orbit - averaged data were also searched for short - lived variations which might be associated with transits of a close - in giant planet or with white - light flares . the latter seemed more likely given the history of activity of @xmath0 ceti . no candidates for transits or flares were found in the data . we can set useful limits on such events over the month that we observed the star . there were no flare events or transits with peak - to - valley variations @xmath51 mmag with durations longer than 200 minutes and none with variations @xmath52 mmag with durations between 2 and 200 min .    for planetary transits , this limits the size of any possible transiting bodies with orbital periods of about 30 days or less to approximately @xmath53 of the stellar radius , about half the size of jupiter . however , our spot modeling and measurements of @xmath7 indicate that the rotational inclination of the star is not close to @xmath6 so it is not expected that the orbital plane of any planets in the @xmath0  ceti system would be coincident with the line - of - sight . several of us ( d.b . , s.r . , e.s . , g.w . ) monitored the ca ii h & k reversals of a number of 51  peg systems @xcite as well as several active , single stars with the gecko spectrograph on the canada france hawaii 3.6-m telescope ( cfht ) . the intention was to detect chromospheric activity synchronized with the planetary orbits . as a by - product , we determined radial velocities ( rvs ) for these stars with @xmath5420 m s@xmath12 @xcite . here we present the various results for @xmath55 ceti . the dates of the observations are listed in table  [ tab2 ] . they were acquired on four observing runs in 2002 and 2003 with the gecko coud spectrograph , fiber  fed from the cassegrain focus of the cfht . single spectra were recorded at a resolution of 110,000 spanning 60   and centered at 3947   ( see figure  [ fig5 ] ) . the signal - to - noise was @xmath56 500 per pixel in the continuum and 150 in the h & k cores . full details of the data reduction are given in @xcite . @xmath0  ceti shows moderate broadening of lines due to rotation at the rate of about 9 days . the broadening is detectable in our high - resolution spectroscopy . combined with the rotation period and the value of the radius , @xmath7 can be used to set a constraint on the rotational axis inclination @xmath41 which is one of free parameters in the spot models . the previous determinations of @xmath7 were 3.9 km  s@xmath12 @xcite , 4.3 km  s@xmath12 @xcite , 5.6 km  s@xmath12 @xcite and 3.8 km  s@xmath12 @xcite . we determined the value of @xmath7 by analyzing the broadening of the photospheric lines in the region of ca  ii 3933/3968   in our cfht spectra . we used the broadening function formalism @xcite of the deconvolution of photospheric spectra of rotating stars with spectra of sharp - line , slowly - rotating stars . the approach leads to removal of all common agents of line broadening , not only of the instrumental component , but also of the tangential turbulence and of all other components which are the same for the program and the template stars . for @xmath0  ceti , we used @xmath57  ceti which is a slightly cooler dwarf , g8v , and rotates very slowly , @xmath58 km  s@xmath12 @xcite .    for determination of the broadening function , the spectra must be rectified and normalized . as shown in figure  [ fig5 ] , the rich photospheric spectrum in both @xmath0  ceti and @xmath57  ceti is superimposed on strongly variable far wings of the ca  ii absorption . we removed sections of the spectrum where the wings fall below 1/3 of the maximum flux and applied a simple , upper - envelope rectification between high points of the quasi - continuum . figure  [ fig6 ] shows the broadening function for one of the cfht spectra , obtained on august 26 , 2003 ( see table  [ tab2 ] ) . instead of least - squares fits of the limb - darkened rotational profile @xcite to the broadening functions ( with the limb darkening coefficient assumed @xmath59 , appropriate for the uv in late - type stars ) , we matched the half - widths at half maximum ; such @xmath7 determinations are less sensitive to the residual uncertainties at the base of the broadening function . our average @xmath60 km  s@xmath12 is compatible with previous determinations . we note that @xcite , using an almost identical value of @xmath61 km  s@xmath12 , interpreted it as implying @xmath62 . the main spot in both model fits is located at moderate stellar latitude above the equator . if the period of @xmath37 days were ascribed to the stellar equator , then the best fitting inclination of @xmath63 and the measured @xmath7 combine to give a stellar radius of @xmath64 , which is certainly reasonable for a g5v star . the 7   region centered on the k - line which was used in the analysis is shown for a single spectrum in figure  [ fig7 ] where spectral intensity is normalized to unity at the wavelength limits . in figure  [ fig8 ] the residuals from the average normalized spectra are shown for each night ( where pairs of spectra on the same night have been averaged ) . activity is confined entirely to the reversals , within about 0.94 around the center of the emission core or within @xmath65 km  s@xmath12 . if this broadening is caused by the velocity field , it is some 7.7 times larger than @xmath7 . to visualize the changes in the reversals , the integrated flux residuals shown in figure  [ fig9 ] are expressed in    relative to the restricted continuum height shown in figure  [ fig7 ] . this height corresponds to about 1/3 of the local photospheric continuum around the ca  ii lines so that the integrated residuals are proportional , but not identical , to the emission equivalent width . they are listed in column 4 of table  [ tab2 ] . the best fitting periodic variation for the k residuals in table  [ tab2 ] over the four observing runs in 2002 and 2003 has a period of @xmath66 days . the residuals are plotted as a function of phase in figure  [ fig9 ] with the arbitrary initial epoch of the minimum residual flux at @xmath67 ( the minimum flux epoch can be estimated to @xmath36 days ) . the data from 2002 are shown as open symbols and those from september 2003 are solid . although the data from 2002 cover only 3 rotations , with the data from 2003 the span in the rotations is extended to 44 . since the period is largely defined by the 2002 observations , figure  [ fig9 ] implies that the rotation associated with the enhanced ca  ii activity has remained quite stable . the 9.332 day period is entirely compatible with that found by @xcite ( @xmath20 day ) suggesting that the enhanced activity has in fact been stable at the same latitude for at least 36 years ( over 1400 rotations ) . this period is also compatible with the 9.3 day period of the less prominent spot that we see in the most observations ( see section  [ lc - most ] ) . given this apparent stability , it is reasonable to extrapolate variations in the k - line residuals to the epoch of the most photometry which corresponds to only 7 additional rotations . the bottom panel of figure  [ fig1 ] shows the k - line flux changes which can be related to the photometric variations due to the 9.3 day spot seen in the most photometry . the maxima of the two curves coincide . the interpretation of this coincidence is not obvious as the enhanced ca  ii could be expected to accompany the dark spot , unless what we see as the 9.3 day photometric signal is actually a bright spot and the minima are due to disappearance of the bright plage region . radial velocities were estimated from @xmath56 20  of the photospheric spectrum ( @xmath68  , see figure  [ fig5 ] ) with the `` fxcor '' routine in iraf , with th / ar comparison lines providing dispersion correction . more detail is given in @xcite . the first spectrum of the series in 2002 acted as the template from which differential radial velocities ( @xmath69rv ) were measured for all the spectra . the @xmath69rv values are listed in table [ tab2 ] . they are plotted against the 9.332 day rotational phase determined from the k - line residuals in figure  [ fig9 ] where the open symbols correspond to data from 2002 and the solid points to september 2003 . there is a remarkable consistency between the @xmath69rvs from both years suggesting that the underlying @xmath69rv technique is highly stable even without an imposed fiducial ( such as iodine vapor ) .    from the 2002 data we derive @xmath7021.8 m  s@xmath12 and 23.6 m  s@xmath12 when combined with 2003 . these values are very similar to @xmath7024.4 m  s@xmath12 , found over 11 years by @xcite . for comparison , a planet which induces a reflex radial velocity variation @xmath71 m  s@xmath12 and is tidally synchronized to the star , would have @xmath72 and a = 0.084 au . consequently , @xmath0  ceti could still harbor a giant planet in a tidally locked orbit which we would not have detected .    in 2003 the @xmath69rvs appear significantly different between the two nights , something which seems to be reinforced by the consistency within the pairs of @xmath69rvs . while a planetary perturbation can not be ruled out by the 2002 data and other precision radial velocity studies , the difference in 2003 might be associated with the velocity field of the star itself . the increase of velocity with increasing k - line strength is consistent with the extreme event in 1988.5 seen by @xcite . however , the data are insufficient to discuss the point further here . in figure  [ fig10 ] , we present the fourier amplitude spectrum of the complete set of unbinned photometry ( at full temporal resolution of about one minute ) , in which the lower frequency modulations have been filtered from the data . also , the known satellite orbital frequency and its harmonics have been removed from the data , to avoid any confusion with residual stray light variations . although the spectrum is plotted only to a frequency of 4 mhz ( period = 4.17 min ) , the noise is level out to the nyquist frequency of about 8 mhz , and there are no significant periodic signals detected in that range . the white dashed line represents the theoretical poisson noise for the data . although there are a few peaks visible at frequencies below 1 mhz , there is no evidence for the pattern of nearly equal spacing associated with p - mode oscillations of low degree and high overtone ( as are seen in the sun ) . there are several isolated peaks in the range 0.1  1.0 mhz ( periods of 2.8 hr to 17 min ) which may be real but are too few and widely separated to attempt a meaningful fit to a model .    at a detection level of @xmath73 , we exclude coherent oscillations larger than about 27 ppm around 1 mhz , 26 ppm at 2 mhz , and 24 ppm at 3 mhz . ( the last is in the frequency range of the solar oscillations . ) thus , we would not expect to detect p - mode oscillations in @xmath0  ceti if they were at the level observed in photometry of integrated light of the sun ; i.e. , about 4  10 ppm @xcite . however , knowledge of the nature of p - mode oscillations in other stars is very limited , and the first space - based photometry of procyon @xcite obtained by most yielded an unexpected null result despite a detection limit at least twice as good as in these commissioning data of @xmath0  ceti . we are only beginning to explore the characteristics of p - mode oscillations in luminosity for stars beyond the sun . the moderately young age of @xmath0 ceti , its relatively rapid rotation compared to the sun , and its later - than - solar spectral type may be contributing factors to the absence of large - amplitude ( i.e.,@xmath74 ppm ) p - modes in this star . we have presented data on the photometric and spectroscopic variability of the moderately young , solar - type star @xmath0  ceti . we describe our continuous photometric observations over one month in november 2003 using the most satellite and our high - resolution spectroscopic cfht observations over four observing runs in 2002 and 2003 . the most data ( averaged over the 101.4-min orbital period of the satellite ) have an estimated point - to - point accuracy of @xmath75 millimagnitude or @xmath76 parts per million , and an unprecedented temporal coverage of 30.5 days with a completeness of 96% . the most orbit - averaged photometry of @xmath0  ceti shows two distinctly different periodicities  a well - defined 8.9-day variation and a smaller , less regular variation whose period appears to be around 9.3 days or slightly longer . the best interpretation of these variations is that two spots ( or compact spot groups ) are at different latitudes on the stellar surface , moving at angular rates which are different by @xmath77  % . this is one of the most direct evidences of surface differential rotation in a cool star other than the sun and the second such after ek  dra @xcite . all other measurements of sdr in other stars have been more indirect , either through season - to - season variations in spot period variability or through subtle broadening effects in spectral line profiles , so far observable only in the most rapidly rotating stars . the details of the smaller slower moving spot on @xmath0  ceti depend on how one describes and removes the larger spot , 8.9 day , variability and on the treatment of the slowly varying residuals . the multi - parametric modeling of the spots suggests that the smaller spots is located at a higher latitude , which would suggest a solar - like sdr pattern . however , independent spectroscopy of the star , some of which was obtained only a few variation cycles before the most photometry , reveals that maxima of the ca  ii k - line emission reversals are synchronized with a period of about 9.3 days , lending support to that period identification for the second spot . while showing significant evolution in size , shape and/or flux contrast even during our month of observations , the 9.3-day spot may in fact be the more stable one and perhaps visible over decades , based on earlier observations of @xmath0  ceti in the literature . the shorter , 8.9 day , periodicity suggests that @xmath0  ceti rotates faster than previously supposed and thus may be even younger , based on the correlation between equatorial rotation period and age in solar - type stars . the unbinned most photometry , with an integration time of 40 seconds and a sampling of once per minute , sets limits on ( 1 ) the presence of p - mode oscillations , ( 2 ) the eruptions of flares over one month of monitoring of this historically active star , and ( 3 ) the occurrence of planetary transits in the system . the data effectively rule out p - mode oscillations larger than 25 parts per million ( ppm ) at the 3@xmath3 limit . there were no flares with durations from 2 to 200 min whose white - light amplitudes could be larger than 2  3 mmag . there can be no planets with orbital periods shorter than 30 days larger than about 0.5 jupiter diameter in an orbit plane which would lead to transits as seen from earth . within the value of @xmath7823 m  s@xmath12 we determine , there could be a close jupiter - mass companion in an inclined orbit . the information gleaned from this early set of most data , obtained before the satellite performance was optimized for normal operations on a target which was not part of the original planned scientific program , indicates the tremendous power of precise , nearly continuous photometry spanning many weeks , which is possible from a dedicated instrument in the right orbit in space . there are many more applications like the ones described in this paper , and instruments like most can be an effective tool in studying the surface properties of rapidly rotating solar - type stars . the most project is funded and supervised by the canadian space agency . we are grateful to the engineers at dynacon inc . , the university of toronto institute for aerospace studies  space flight laboratory , the university of british columbia department of physics and astronomy , and the university of vienna and austrian technical university for their contributions to the success of the most mission . , a.f.j.m . , g.a.h.w . were supported by the natural sciences and engineering research council canada . is also supported by fcar ( qubec ) . w.w.w . received support from the austrian space agency and the austrian science fund ( p14984 ) . this research has made use of the simbad database , operated at the cds , strasbourg , france and accessible through the canadian astronomy data centre , which is operated by the herzberg institute of astrophysics , national research council of canada . baliunas , s. l. , hartmann , l. , noyes , r. w. , vaughan , h. , preston , g. w. , frazer , j. , lanning , h. , middelkoop , f. , mihalas , s. , 1983 , , 275 , 752 baliunas , s. l. , horne , j. h. , porter , a. , duncan , d. k. , frazer , j. , lanning , h. , misch , a. , mueller , j. , noyes , r. w. , soyumer , d. , vaughan , a. h. , woodard , l. , 1985 , , 294 , 310 baliunas , s. l. , donahue , r. a. , soon , w. h. , horne , j. h. , frazer , j. , woodard - 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about 30.5 days of nearly uninterrupted broadband photometry of the solar - type star @xmath0  ceti , obtained with the most ( microvariability & oscillations of stars ) satellite , shows evidence for two large starspots with different rotation periods of 8.9 and approximately 9.3 days ( @xmath1 ) . 
 ground based measurements in 2002 and 2003 of ca ii h & k emission reveal variations in chromospheric activity with a period of about 9.3 days . 
 the data were obtained during the most commissioning phase . when the data are combined with historical observations , 
 they indicate that the 9.3-day spot has been stable in its period for over 30 years . 
 the photometry , with a sampling rate of approximately once per minute , was also used to search for acoustic ( p - mode ) oscillations in the star . 
 we detect no clear evidence for p - modes in the @xmath0  ceti photometry , with a noise level around 7  9 @xmath2mag at frequencies in the range 0.5  4 mhz ( 3@xmath3 detection limit of 21  27 @xmath2mag ) . 
 there were no flares or planetary transits during the 30.5 days of most monitoring with light amplitudes greater than 2 mmag ( durations greater than 200 minutes ) and 3 mmag ( @xmath4 min durations ) . while this rules out any close - in planets of @xmath50.5 jupiter diameters with an orbital inclination close to @xmath6 , the scatter in differential radial velocities permit a close giant planet in a more highly inclined orbit