Precise radial velocities of giant stars: I. Stable stars

Details Precise radial velocities of giant stars: I. Stable stars Precise radial velocities of giant stars: I. Stable stars

2006-04-25

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0604502v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

8 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in A&A

Scientific paper

10.1051/0004-6361:20064946

Context: Future astrometric missions such as SIM PlanetQuest need very stable reference stars. K giants have large luminosities, which place them at large distances and thus the jitter of their photocenters by companions is relatively small. Therefore K giants would be best suited as references. To confirm this observationally a radial velocity survey is performed to quantify the level of intrinsic variability in K giants. Aims: From this radial velocity survey we present 34 K giants with an observed standard deviation of the radial velocity of less than 20 m/s. These stars are considered ``stable'' and can be used as radial velocity standards. Methods: The radial velocity survey contains 179 K giants. All K giants have a declination between -30 and +65 degrees and visual magnitude of 3-6 mag. The Coude Auxiliary Telescope (CAT) at UCO/Lick Observatory is used to obtain radial velocities with an accuracy of 5-8 m/s. The number of epochs for the 34 stable stars ranges from 11 to 28 with a total timespan of the observations between 1800 and a little over 2200 days. Results: The observational results of the 34 ``stable'' stars are shown together with a discussion about their position in the M_{V} vs. B-V diagram and some conclusions concerning the radial velocity variability of K giants. These results are in agreement with the theoretical predictions. K giants in a certain range of the M_{V} vs. B-V diagram are suitable reference stars.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Precise radial velocities of giant stars: I. Stable stars does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Precise radial velocities of giant stars: I. Stable stars, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Precise radial velocities of giant stars: I. Stable stars will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-433049