UCAC3 Proper Motion Survey. I. Discovery of New Proper Motion Stars in UCAC3 with 0.40 "/yr > mu >= 0.18 "/yr between Declinations -90 deg and -47 deg

Presented here are 442 new proper motion stellar systems in the southern sky between declinations -90\degr and -47\degr with 0\farcs40 yr$^{-1}$ $>$ $\mu$ $\ge$ 0\farcs18 yr$^{-1}$. These systems constitute a 25.3% increase in new systems for the same region of the sky covered by previous SuperCOSMOS RECONS (SCR) searches that used Schmidt plates as the primary source of discovery. Among the new systems are 25 multiples, plus an additional seven new common proper motion companions found to previously known primaries. All stars have been discovered using the third U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC3). A comparison of the UCAC3 proper motions to those from the Hipparcos, Tycho-2, Southern Proper Motion (SPM4), and SuperCOSMOS efforts is presented, and shows that UCAC3 provides similar values and precision to the first three surveys. The comparison between UCAC3 and SuperCOSMOS indicates that proper motions in RA are systematically shifted in the SuperCOSMOS data but are consistent in DEC data, while overall showing a significantly higher scatter. Distance estimates are derived for stars having SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey (SSS) $B_J$, $R_{59F}$, and $I_{IVN}$ plate magnitudes and Two-Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) infrared photometry. We find 15 systems estimated to be within 25 pc, including UPM 1710-5300 our closest new discovery estimated at 13.5 pc. Such new discoveries suggest that more nearby stars are yet to be found in these slower proper motion regimes, indicating that more work is needed to develop a complete map of the solar neighborhood.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables, accepted to the Astronomical Journal July 07, 201

The Solar Neighborhood XXV: Discovery of New Proper Motion Stars with 0.40 "/yr > mu > 0.18 "/yr between Declinations -47 degrees and 00 degrees

We present 2817 new southern proper motion systems with 0.40 "/yr > mu > 0.18 "/yr and declination between -47 degrees and 00 degrees. This is a continuation of the SuperCOSMOS-RECONS (SCR) proper motion searches of the southern sky. We use the same photometric relations as previous searches to provide distance estimates based on the assumption that the objects are single main sequence stars. We find 79 new red dwarf systems predicted to be within 25 pc, including a few new components of previously known systems. Two systems - SCR 1731-2452 at 9.5 pc and SCR 1746-3214 at 9.9 pc - are anticipated to be within 10 pc. We also find 23 new white dwarf candidates with distance estimates of 15-66 pc, as well as 360 new red subdwarf candidates. With this search, we complete the SCR sweep of the southern sky for stars with mu > 0.18 "/yr and R_59F < 16.5, resulting in a total of 5042 objects in 4724 previously unreported proper motion systems. Here we provide selected comprehensive lists from our SCR proper motion search to date, including 152 red dwarf systems estimated to be within 25 pc (nine within 10 pc), 46 white dwarfs (ten within 25 pc), and 598 subdwarf candidates. The results of this search suggest that there are more nearby systems to be found at fainter magnitudes and lower proper motion limits than those probed so far.Comment: 47 pages, 16 of text. 7 figure

The Solar Neighborhood XV: Discovery of New High Proper Motion Stars with mu >= 0.4"/yr between Declinations -47 degrees and 00 degrees

We report the discovery of 152 new high proper motion systems (mu >= 0.4"/yr) in the southern sky (Declination = -47 degrees to 00 degrees) brighter than UKST plate R_{59F} =16.5 via our SuperCOSMOS-RECONS (SCR) search. This paper complements Paper XII in The Solar Neighborhood series, which covered the region from Declination = -90 degrees to -47 degrees and discussed all 147 new systems from the southernmost phase of the search. Among the total of 299 systems from both papers, there are 148 (71 in Paper XII, 77 in this paper) new systems moving faster than 0.5"/yr that are additions to the classic ``LHS'' (Luyten Half Second) sample. These constitute an 8% increase in the sample of all stellar systems with mu >= 0.5"/yr in the southern sky. As in Paper XII, distance estimates are provided for the systems reported here based upon a combination of photographic plate magnitudes and 2MASS photometry, assuming all stars are on the main sequence. Two SCR systems from the portion of the sky included in this paper are anticipated to be within 10 pc, and an additional 23 are within 25 pc. In total, the results presented in Paper XII and here for this SCR sweep of the entire southern sky include five new systems within 10 pc and 38 more between 10 and 25 pc. The largest number of nearby systems have been found in the slowest proper motion bin, 0.6"/yr > mu >= 0.4"/yr, indicating that there may be a large population of low proper motion systems very near the Sun.Comment: 36 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomical Journa

The Solar Neighborhood. XXXX. Parallax Results from the CTIOPI 0.9 m Program: New Young Stars Near the Sun

As a step toward completing and characterizing the census of the solar neighborhood, we present astrometric, photometric, and spectroscopic observations of 32 systems observed with the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory 0.9 m and 1.5 m telescopes. Astrometry from the 0.9 m indicates that among the 17 systems that had no previous published trigonometric parallaxes, 14 are within 25 pc. In the full sample, nine systems have proper motions larger than 0.”5 yr^(−1), including 2MASS J02511490-0352459, which exceeds 2.”0 yr^(−1). VRI photometry from the 0.9 m and optical spectra from the 1.5 m indicate that the targets have V = 11–22 mag and spectral types M3.0V–L3.0V. For 2MASS J23062928-0502285 (TRAPPIST-1), we present updated astrometry and photometric variability based on over 12 years of observations. Of the nine binaries in the sample, two promise mass determinations in the next decade: LHS 6167AB, an M4.5V system for which we present an accurate parallax placing the binary at 9.7 pc, and 2MASS J23515048-2537367AB, an M8.5V system at 21.1 pc for which we present the first evidence of an unseen, low-mass companion. Most importantly, Na I and K I gravity indicators, Hα measurements, long-term photometric variability, locations on the H-R diagram, and kinematic assessments indicate that as many as 13 of the systems are young, including candidate members of young moving groups, with ages less than ~120 Myr

The Solar Neighborhood. XXXVIII. Results from the CTIO/SMARTS 0.9 m: Trigonometric Parallaxes for 151 Nearby M Dwarf Systems

We present 160 new trigonometric parallaxes for 151 M dwarf systems from the REsearch Consortium On Nearby Stars (RECONS) group's long-term astrometry/photometry program at the CTIO/SMARTS 0.9 m telescope. Most systems (124 or 82%) are found to lie within 25 pc. The stars have 119 mas yr^(-1) ≤ μ ≤ 828 mas yr^(−1) and 3.85 ≤ (V-K) ≤ 8.47. Among these are 58 systems from the SuperCOSMOS-RECONS search, discovered via our proper motion trawls of the SuperCOSMOS digitized archival photographic plates, while the remaining stars were suspected via photometric distance estimates to lie nearby. Sixteen systems were newly discovered via astrometric perturbations to be binaries, many of which are ideal for accurate mass determinations due to their proximity and orbital periods on the order of a decade. A variability analysis of the stars presented, two-thirds of which are new results, shows six of the stars to vary by more than 20 mmag. This effort brings the total number of parallaxes for M dwarf systems measured by RECONS to nearly 500 and increases by 26% the number of southern M dwarf systems with accurate trigonometric parallaxes placing them within 25 pc

The Solar Neighborhood XXIII CCD Photometric Distance Estimates of SCR Targets -- 77 M Dwarf Systems within 25 Parsecs

We present CCD photometric distance estimates of 100 SCR (SuperCOSMOS RECONS) systems with $\mu$ $\geq$ 0\farcs18/yr, 28 of which are new discoveries previously unpublished in this series of papers. These distances are estimated using a combination of new $VRI$ photometry acquired at CTIO and $JHK$ magnitudes extracted from 2MASS. The estimates are improvements over those determined using photographic plate $BRI$ magnitudes from SuperCOSMOS plus $JHK$, as presented in the original discovery papers. In total, 77 of the 100 systems investigated are predicted to be within 25 pc. If all 77 systems are confirmed to have $\pi$$_{trig}$ $\ge$ 40 milliarcseconds, this sample would represent a 23% increase in M dwarf systems nearer than 25 pc in the southern sky.Comment: 34 pages, 8 figure