Research Consortium on Nearby Stars

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The Research Consortium on Nearby Stars (RECONS) is a project to investigate the stars nearest to the Solar System - those within 10 parsecs (32.6 light years). In part the project hopes a more accurate survey of local star systems will give a better picture of the star systems in the galaxy as a whole.

The project has discovered several nearby white dwarf and red dwarfs, including GJ 1061 in 1997 which is the 20th nearest of known star systems at a distance of 11.9 light years, and provided the first accurate measurement of distance for DEN 0255-477, which at 16.2 light years is the nearest known L Dwarf to the Solar System. In November 2006 RECONS announced they had discovered 20 new star systems within 10 parsecs of the Solar System, in addition to 8 new star systems announced between 2000 and 2005.

The project is led by Todd Henry of Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA. Other astronomers involved in the project include Wei-Chun Jao, John Subasavage and Thom Beaulieu of Georgia State University, Phil Ianna of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and Edgardo Costa and Rene Mendez of the Universidad de Chile.