Date of Award
Summer 8-7-2012
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Physics and Astronomy
First Advisor
Dr. Todd J. Henry
Abstract
Since the first successful measurements of stellar trigonometric parallax in the 1830s, the study of nearby stars has focused on the highest proper motion stars (mu > 0.18"/yr). Those high proper motion stars have formed the backbone of the last 150 years of study of the Solar Neighborhood and the composition of the Galaxy. Statistically speaking, though, there is a population of stars that will have low proper motions when their space motions have been projected onto the sky. At the same time, over the last twenty years, populations of relatively young stars (less than ~100 Myr), most of them with low proper motions, have been revealed near (<100 >pc) the Sun. This dissertation is the result of two related projects: A photometric search for nearby (<25 >pc) southern-hemisphere M dwarf stars with low proper motions (mu < 0.18"/yr), and a search for nearby (
DOI
https://doi.org/10.57709/3097644
Recommended Citation
Riedel, Adric Richard, "Hiding In Plain Sight." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2012.
doi: https://doi.org/10.57709/3097644