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K.L. Tah, C. McCarthy, D. Fischer (SFSU)
The Space Interferometry Mission's microarcsecond precision will provide exploration of parts of phase-space inaccessible to current planet search techniques. In particular, such precision would enable the discovery of extra-solar planets with sizes down to a few earth masses. In order to maximize SIM's astrometric accuracy, a network of about 4 to 5 reference stars needs to be identified for each of the target stars. It has been shown that K giants at about 1 kpc are the optimal stars for such a purpose because of their high intrinsic luminosity.
We have selected ~40 candidate reference stars from the Tycho Catalog for each target star. To determine which 4-5 of these are most suitable to be observed by SIM as a reference star, we wish to determine the distance and metalicity of each. We present work done in calculating the gravity and metallicities via spectral synthesis modelling of candidate stars.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 5
© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.