Research Consortium On Nearby Stars
The Research Consortium on Nearby Stars (RECONS) is an international group of astronomers founded in 1994 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.
Notable discoveries
The Consortium claims authorship of the The Solar Neighborhood series in the The Astronomical Journal, that began in 1994.[1] This series now numbers over 20 papers and submissions. The following discoveries are from this series:
- GJ 1061 was discovered to be the 20th nearest known star system, at a distance of 11.9 light years.[2]
- The discovery of 20 previously unknown star systems within 10 parsecs of the Solar System. These are in addition to 8 new star systems announced between 2000 and 2005.[4]
RECONS is listed explicitly as an author on papers submitted to the Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society since 2004.[5]
The RECONS web page includes the frequently referenced List of the 100 Nearest Star Systems. They update this list as discoveries are made.
Personnel
Todd J. Henry of Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA, is the Consortium's founder and director. Some of the 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, Hartmut Jahreiß of the Astronomisches Rechen-Institut in Heidelberg, Germany and Edgardo Costa and Rene Mendez of the Universidad de Chile.
See also
References
- ^ Henry, Todd J.; Kirkpatrick, J. Davy; Simons, Douglas A. (October, 1994). "The solar neighborhood, 1: Standard spectral types (K5-M8) for northern dwarfs within eight parsecs". The Astronomical Journal 108 (4): 1437–1444. Bibcode 1994AJ....108.1437H. doi:10.1086/117167.
- ^ Henry, Todd J.; et al. (July 1997). "The solar neighborhood IV: discovery of the twentieth nearest star". Astronomical Journal 114: 388–395. Bibcode 1997AJ....114..388H. doi:10.1086/118482.
- ^ Costa, Edgardo; Méndez, René A.; Jao, W.-C.; Henry, Todd J.; Subasavage, John P.; Ianna, Philip A. (September, 2006). "The Solar Neighborhood. XVI. Parallaxes from CTIOPI: Final Results from the 1.5 m Telescope Program". The Astronomical Journal 132 (3): 1234–1247. Bibcode 2006AJ....132.1234C. doi:10.1086/505706.
- ^ Henry, Todd J.; et al. (December 2006). "The Solar Neighborhood. XVII. Parallax Results from the CTIOPI 0.9 m Program: 20 New Members of the RECONS 10 Parsec Sample". The Astronomical Journal 132 (6): 2360–2371. arXiv:astro-ph/0608230. Bibcode 2006AJ....132.2360H. doi:10.1086/508233.
- ^ Henry, T. J.; Beaulieu, T. D.; Brown, M. A.; Jao, W. C.; Monteiro, H.; Subasavage, J. P.; RECONS (December, 2004). "New Nearby Stars from NOAO and SMARTS Observations". American Astronomical Society Meeting 205, #165.07; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society 36: 1618. Bibcode 2004AAS...20516507H.
External links