Hiding in Plain Sight: Nearby Low Proper Motion Stars

Details Hiding in Plain Sight: Nearby Low Proper Motion Stars Hiding in Plain Sight: Nearby Low Proper Motion Stars

Jan 2012

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2012aas...21931304r&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #219, #313.04

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

Astronomers have always used high proper motion to locate the nearest stars, but a substantial fraction --- nearly 15% --- of all stars within 25 pc are expected to move more slowly than 180 milliarcseconds/yr, the canonical proper motion limit of classic surveys, such as Luyten's.
Using the SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey BRI plate magnitudes, 2MASS photometry, and a variety of color-based selection criteria, we have completed a reconnaissance of the southern sky for nearby LOW proper motion objects --- those moving more slowly than 180 milliarcseconds/yr. The results are fascinating: We find genuinely nearby stars that have been hiding in plain sight, with the three nearest at 7.9, 9.4, and 10.5 parsecs, moving at only 120, 64, and 37 mas/yr, respectively. We have also uncovered a population of nearby pre-main-sequence and ZAMS (Hyades age and younger) dwarfs of M spectral type for which we are collecting parallaxes and proper motions, and in a few cases, mapping the orbits of newly discovered binaries. We use the new astrometric information to estimate ages and determine the kinematic associations of these stars. This effort is helping to reveal the supposed 'missing' M dwarf populations of nearby moving groups.
This effort is supported by the NSF through grant AST-0908402 and via observations made possible by the SMARTS Consortium. Confirmation of binaries has been accomplished using HST's Fine Guidance Sensors.

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