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Todd Henry |
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"Spying on Your Southern
Neighbors" |
| A multitude of nearby stars, white dwarfs, and red subdwarfs are being revealed at CTIO using the 0.9m telescope. A combination of efforts by folks at CTIO, in the SMARTS Consortium, and in the RECONS groups at Georgia State and U. Chile have led to several surprises that are revolutionizing our understanding of the Sun's neighbors. A tour of your solar neighborhood is in store, including comprehensive assessments of the census, luminosity function, and mass function of objects within 10 parsecs. Much has changed since 1999, when the parallax program at CTIOPI began. Discoveries include the 24th nearest star system (a late-type red dwarf with a brown dwarf companion), surprising double white dwarfs, and wacky subdwarfs that may be smaller than Neptune. The latest find is quite possibly the first (confident) extrasolar planet ever discovered via astrometry. |