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| Paper: |
Characterizing the Nearby Solar-Type Stars |
| Volume: |
185, Precise Stellar Radial Velocities, IAU Colloquium 170 |
| Page: |
102 |
| Authors: |
Soderblom, D. R.; King, J. R. |
| Abstract: |
The search for planets around other stars typifies a program of precise stellar radial velocities. Aside from detections of planets themselves, we have learned from these efforts that: 1) Young solar-type stars cannot have their RVs measured as precisely as older stars. This not due to line breadth (young stars tending to have larger v sin i 's than old stars), but instead to astrophysical ''noise'' that presumably arises from magnetic activity. 2) Inactive solar-type stars are the best targets for planet searches because they are free of this noise and they have intrinsically narrow lines. The nature of stars like the Sun means they will continue to be favored targets for planet-search programs such as the Space Interferometry Mission. However, these programs require basic knowledge of many stars as potential targets. Moreover, large samples (several thousand stars) of solar-type stars can address astrophysical issues in ways than smaller samples cannot. Working in collaboration with D. Latham and his colleagues at the Center for Astrophysics (and with M. Mayor and colleagues in Geneva), over the past several years, we have begun an effort to catalogue and characterize the ~5000 solar-type stars (roughly F8V to K2V) that lie within ~100 pc. The Stromgren photometry of Olsen created a starting sample that has now been refined with results from Hipparcos. Observations of chromospheric activity have been obtained for ~800 stars south of -26 degrees declination, and a program to do the same for the northern stars is starting. This paper will present results to date, program plans, and expected astrophysical products. |
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