Collaborative Research: A Survey for Multiplicity of Low-mass (Class M) Dwarf Stars

Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff AZ

Investigators

Abstract

This collaborative project will use imaging and spectrophotometry to study 2,000 of the nearest stars. The high spatial resolution images will be capable of revealing bound planets. The spectrophotometry will provide information about the systems? temperatures and orbital characteristics. The work will focus on a type of star called M-dwarfs, which are cooler and less massive than the Sun. These stars are also considered more likely to have rocky planets habitable to life than stars like the Sun. Observations will be made with two telescopes in Arizona and one in California. Scientific results will be incorporated into an outreach program with the Discovery Channel. Students from Northern Arizona University and Southern Connecticut State University will participate in the research. The team will use the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument (DSSI) on Lowell Observatory 4.5m telescope and the R=600 visible-light multi-object spectrophotometer on Lowell?s 31-inch telescope. Through the comparison of speckle patterns simultaneously observed at two wavelengths, DSSI can measure separations of companions below the diffraction limit. Follow-up spectrophotometry will provide data for stellar characterization and spectral energy distribution fitting. The team will also use the Palomar 200-inch telescope to assess bound companions using data from an infrared camera or optical integral field spectrometer and isochrone modeling.