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T.J. Henry (Georgia State University), D.E. Backman (Franklin & Marshall College), J. Blackwell (Nearby Star Observers), T. Okimura (Symtech Inc.)
The nearby stars have gained new respect and interest in recent times because of their importance in such fundamental questions as "What is the nature of the Sun's neighbors?", "Are there planets circling nearby stars?", and "Is there life on any of those planets?"
We will present results from research on the complete sample of stars known within 25 pc of the Sun, the horizon of NASA's NStars Project. This robust sample, which currently includes more than 2500 stars, allows us to develop comprehensive luminosity and mass functions for the local Galactic population, as well as identify interesting subsamples, including the smallest stars, white dwarfs, and stars with extrasolar planet candidates. Results from photometric sky surveys and a new large southern sky parallax program (CTIOPI) that targets sample members will be highlighted. Special attention will be paid to efforts that identify nearby stars that lurk undiscovered in the solar neighborhood, including the identification of several new members less than 10 parsecs away. In addition, preparations for SIRTF projects aimed at measuring amounts of, or limits to, planetesimal debris ('exozodi dust') will be discussed.
We thank the NASA Origins program and the NASA-Ames Astrobiology Institute for support.
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The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: thenry@chara.gsu.edu