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T.J. Henry, J.P. Subasavage, W.C. Jao (Georgia State University), E. Costa (Universidad de Chile), P.A. Ianna (University of Virginia), R.A. Mendez (European Southern Observatory), RECONS Team
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?"
The RECONS (Research Consortium on Nearby Stars) effort to discover new solar neighbors via astrometric, photometric, and spectroscopic work will be outlined. A large southern sky parallax program, CTIOPI (CTIO Parallax Investigation), carried out under the auspices of the NOAO Surveys Program has revealed several new nearby single and multiple red dwarf systems. One has been found to lie at a distance of only 5.5 pc, placing it 55th on the list of nearby stellar systems. New parallaxes will be presented for white dwarf and brown dwarf candidates also included on the observing list. The entire RECONS sample of stars --- those within 10 pc --- will be outlined in detail, including information about their colors, spectral types, and multiplicity, as well as the comprehensive luminosity and mass functions for the local Galactic population.
The support of NOAO, CTIO, the NASA-Ames Astrobiology Institute and the NASA's Space Interferometry Mission have been crucial to the success of this research.
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The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: thenry@chara.gsu.edu