Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011aas...21832601w&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #218, #326.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 43, 2011
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Determining distances to celestial objects is one of the fundamental challenges in astronomy. In particular, distance determinations to nearby objects are of vital importance, as our solar neighbors set the standard for the primary rung in the cosmic distance ladder. The optimal tool for accomplishing this seemingly simple task is trigonometric parallax. However, because measuring parallaxes is time-intensive, photometric distance estimates are useful in deciding which targets are good candidates for the limited slots available in traditional parallax programs --- or in the near future, which stars are worthy of special attention. In 1999, RECONS (Research Consortium on Nearby Stars) began gathering VRI photometry using the CTIO 0.9m telescope. Observations continued when SMARTS took over operations in 2003, and the nimble, reliable, 0.9m telescope has evolved into a distance runner of sorts --- running methodically all over the southern sky for 12 years, measuring distances to hundreds of stars. As a result, the 0.9m has moved to the forefront of mapping the solar neighborhood, while revamping the distance scale for red dwarfs, by far the most abundant type of star in the cosmos. Here we present a photometric census of the southern sky using these results, with particular emphasis on the large number of newly discovered red dwarfs within 25 pc. In total, we have collected VRI photometry for 1400 objects, over a thousand of which are M dwarfs (V-K > 3.0). When we combine our VRI photometry with 2MASS JHK magnitudes, we are able to estimate photometric distances accurate to 15%. The nearest candidates are then added to our astrometry program, which now has in excess of 500 nearby red dwarfs racing toward the parallax finish line.
This work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, NASA's Space Interferometry Mission, Georgia State University, and Northern Arizona University.
Finch C.
Hambly Nigel
Henry Thomas
Jao W.
Subasavage John Jr.
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