Photoelectric photometry of V410 Tauri

The equatorial features, however, were not properly reproduced since Doppler imaging relies on information in the wings of lines for reconstructing equatorial features, and for V410 Tau these molecular band lines overlap. In 1993, V410 Tau had a large photometric amplitude resulting from the concentration of cool spots on the hemisphere of the star visible at phase 0{deg}, a phenomenon known as preferred longitude. In contrast, the small photometric amplitude observed currently is due to a strong symmetric polar spot and the uniform distribution in longitude of equatorial cool and warm spots.

This redistribution of surface features may be the beginning of a slow "flip-flop" for V410 Tau where spot locations alternate between preferred longitudes. Flare events linked to two of the hotter spots in the Doppler image were observed.