97 research outputs found
The Solar Neighborhood XLII. Parallax Results from the CTIOPI 0.9-m Program --- Identifying New Nearby Subdwarfs Using Tangential Velocities and Locations on the H-R Diagram
Parallaxes, proper motions, and optical photometry are presented for 51
systems made up 37 cool subdwarf and 14 additional high proper motion systems.
Thirty-seven systems have parallaxes reported for the first time, 15 of which
have proper motions of at least 1"/yr. The sample includes 22 newly identified
cool subdwarfs within 100 pc, of which three are within 25 pc, and an
additional five subdwarfs from 100-160 pc. Two systems --- LSR 1610-0040 AB and
LHS 440 AB --- are close binaries exhibiting clear astrometric perturbations
that will ultimately provide important masses for cool subdwarfs.
We use the accurate parallaxes and proper motions provided here, combined
with additional data from our program and others to determine that effectively
all nearby stars with tangential velocities greater than 200 km s are
subdwarfs. We compare a sample of 167 confirmed cool subdwarfs to nearby main
sequence dwarfs and Pleiades members on an observational Hertzsprung-Russell
diagram using vs.~ to map trends of age and metallicity. We
find that subdwarfs are clearly separated for spectral types K5--M5, indicating
that the low metallicities of subdwarfs set them apart in the H-R diagram for
= 3--6. We then apply the tangential velocity cutoff and the
subdwarf region of the H-R diagram to stars with parallaxes from {\it Gaia}
Data Release 1 and the MEarth Project to identify a total of 29 new nearby
subdwarf candidates that fall clearly below the main sequence.Comment: accepted for publication in Astronomical Journa
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
Distance Dependent Offsets between Parallaxes for Nearby Stars and Gaia DR1 Parallaxes
We use 612 single stars with previously published trigonometric parallaxes
placing them within 25 pc to evaluate parallaxes released in Gaia's first data
release (DR1). We find that the Gaia parallaxes are, on average, mas smaller than the weighted mean trigonometric parallax values for
these stars in the solar neighborhood. We also find that the offset changes
with distance out to 100 pc, in the sense that the closer the star, the larger
the offset. We find no systematic trends in the parallax offsets with stellar
magnitude, color, or proper motion. We do find that the offset is
roughly twice as large for stars south of the ecliptic compared to those that
are north.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ
Letter. The table 1 is available in its entirety in a machine-readable form
in the online journa
The Solar Neighborhood XXIV. Parallax Results from the CTIOPI 0.9-m Program: Stars with 1\farcs0 yr (MOTION Sample) and Subdwarfs
We present 41 trigonometric parallaxes of 37 stellar systems, most of which
have proper motions greater than 1\farcs0 yr. These are the first
trigonometric parallaxes for 24 systems. Overall, there are 15 red dwarf
systems and 22 red subdwarf systems in the sample. Five of the systems are
multiples with directly detected companions, and we have discovered
perturbations caused by unseen companions in two additional cases, the dwarf
LHS 501 and the subdwarf LHS 440. The latter system may eventually provide
important dynamical mass points on the subdwarf mass-luminosity relation. Two
additional stars of note are LHS 272, the third closest M-type subdwarf at a
distance of only 13.6 pc, and LHS 2734AB, a high velocity subdwarf binary with
700 km/sec, which likely exceeds the escape velocity of the Milky
Way. We also report the first long term variability study of cool subdwarfs
indicating that cool subdwarfs are less photometrically variable than their
main sequence counterparts.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables, accepted by A
The Solar Neighborhood. XXXIV. A Search for Planets Orbiting Nearby M Dwarfs using Astrometry
Astrometric measurements are presented for seven nearby stars with previously
detected planets: six M dwarfs (GJ 317, GJ 667C, GJ 581, GJ 849, GJ 876, and GJ
1214) and one K dwarf (BD 10 3166). Measurements are also presented for six
additional nearby M dwarfs without known planets, but which are more favorable
to astrometric detections of low mass companions, as well as three binary
systems for which we provide astrometric orbit solutions. Observations have
baselines of three to thirteen years, and were made as part of the RECONS
long-term astrometry and photometry program at the CTIO/SMARTS 0.9m telescope.
We provide trigonometric parallaxes and proper motions for all 16 systems, and
perform an extensive analysis of the astrometric residuals to determine the
minimum detectable companion mass for the 12 M dwarfs not having close stellar
secondaries. For the six M dwarfs with known planets, we are not sensitive to
planets, but can rule out the presence of all but the least massive brown
dwarfs at periods of 2 - 12 years. For the six more astrometrically favorable M
dwarfs, we conclude that none have brown dwarf companions, and are sensitive to
companions with masses as low as 1 for periods longer than two years.
In particular, we conclude that Proxima Centauri has no Jovian companions at
orbital periods of 2 - 12 years. These results complement previously published
M dwarf planet occurrence rates by providing astrometrically determined upper
mass limits on potential super-Jupiter companions at orbits of two years and
longer. As part of a continuing survey, these results are consistent with the
paucity of super-Jupiter and brown dwarf companions we find among the over 250
red dwarfs within 25 pc observed longer than five years in our astrometric
program.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in A
- …