7 research outputs found
New nearby white dwarfs from Gaia DR1 TGAS and UCAC5/URAT
Using an accurate Gaia TGAS 25pc sample, nearly complete for GK stars, and
selecting common proper motion (CPM) candidates from UCAC5, we search for new
white dwarf (WD) companions around nearby stars with relatively small proper
motions. For investigating known CPM systems in TGAS and for selecting CPM
candidates in TGAS+UCAC5, we took into account the expected effect of orbital
motion on the proper motion as well as the proper motion catalogue errors.
Colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) and were used to verify
CPM candidates from UCAC5. Assuming their common distance with a given TGAS
star, we searched for candidates that occupied similar regions in the CMDs as
the few known nearby WDs (4 in TGAS) and WD companions (3 in TGAS+UCAC5). CPM
candidates with colours and absolute magnitudes corresponding neither to the
main sequence nor to the WD sequence were considered as doubtful or subdwarf
candidates. With a minimum proper motion of 60mas/yr, we selected three WD
companion candidates, two of which are also confirmed by their significant
parallaxes measured in URAT data, whereas the third may also be a chance
alignment of a distant halo star with a nearby TGAS star (angular separation of
about 465arcsec). One additional nearby WD candidate was found from its URAT
parallax and photometry. With HD 166435 B orbiting a well-known G1 star
at ~24.6pc with a projected physical separation of ~700AU, we discovered one of
the hottest WDs, classified by us as DA2.00.2, in the solar neighbourhood.
We also found TYC 3980-1081-1 B, a strong cool WD companion candidate around a
recently identified new solar neighbour with a TGAS parallax corresponding to a
distance of ~8.3pc and our photometric classification as ~M2 dwarf. This raises
the question whether previous assumptions on the completeness of the WD sample
to a distance of 13pc were correct.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
The kinematics of late type stars in the solar cylinder studied with SDSS data
We study the velocity distribution of Milky Way disk stars in a
kiloparsec-sized region around the Sun, based on ~ 2 million M-type stars from
DR7 of SDSS, which have newly re-calibrated absolute proper motions from
combining SDSS positions with the USNO-B catalogue. We estimate photometric
distances to all stars, accurate to ~ 20 %, and combine them with the proper
motions to derive tangential velocities for this kinematically unbiased sample
of stars. Based on a statistical de-projection method we then derive the
vertical profiles (to heights of Z = 800 pc above the disk plane) for the first
and second moments of the three dimensional stellar velocity distribution. We
find that = -7 +/- 1 km/s and = -9 +/- 1 km/s, independent of height
above the mid-plane, reflecting the Sun's motion with respect to the local
standard of rest. In contrast, changes distinctly from -20 +/- 2 km/s in
the mid-plane to = -32 km/s at Z = 800 pc, reflecting an asymmetric drift
of the stellar mean velocity that increases with height. All three components
of the M-star velocity dispersion show a strong linear rise away from the
mid-plane, most notably \sigma_{ZZ}, which grows from 18 km/s (Z = 0) to 40
km/s (at Z = 800 pc). We determine the orientation of the velocity ellipsoid,
and find a significant vertex deviation of 20 to 25 degrees, which decreases
only slightly to heights of Z = 800 pc. Away from the mid-plane, our sample
exhibits a remarkably large tilt of the velocity ellipsoid towards the Galactic
plane, which reaches 20 deg. at Z = 800 pc and which is not easily explained.
Finally, we determine the ratio \sigma^2_{\phi\phi}/\sigma^2_{RR} near the
mid-plane, which in the epicyclic approximation implies an almost perfectly
flat rotation curve at the Solar radius.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, accepted to Astron.
The Fifth Catalogue of Nearby Stars (CNS5)
Context. We present the compilation of the Fifth Catalogue of Nearby Stars (CNS5), based on astrometric and photometric data from Gaia EDR3 and HIPPARCO