Techniques for surface imaging of stars

Abstract

Surface imaging of stars from the profiles of spectral lines, has become an important tool in modern astrophysics. It is presently used for mapping the distribution of chemical elements on Ap stars and the variation in temperature over the surface of late-type stars. Magnetic field maps will be produced as soon as high quality polarization observations are available. Recently imaging techniques have been developed for application to eclipsing binary stars. In this paper we review the improvements we have found to result in more reliable and detailed maps in all aspects of surface imaging.