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RECONS Mission Statement
The purpose of RECONS (REsearch Consortium On Nearby Stars) is
to understand the nature of the Sun's nearest stellar neighbors, both
individually and as a population. Our primary goals are to discover
"missing" members of the stellar sample within 10 parsecs (32.6 light
years), and to characterize all stars and their environments within
that distance limit. New members are found via astrometric,
photometric, and spectroscopic techniques, and through searches for
stellar, brown dwarf, and planetary companions at small and large
separations. Characterization includes photometry and spectroscopy at
both optical and infrared wavelengths, as well as determinations of
the luminosity function, mass function, and multiplicity fraction of
the nearby stars. RECONS is currently extending survey work to 25
parsecs in an effort to understand the Sun's and Earth's places among
a larger population of our neighbors.
We request that if you use data from this website,
please acknowledge RECONS and reference www.recons.org
Current support for RECONS comes from the
National Science Foundation. Our primary
observing programs are carried out via the SMARTS Consortium, which
operates four telescopes in the Chilean Andes under the auspices of
National Optical Astronomy Observatory and the National Science
Foundation.
RECONS Results
RECONS News
RECONS Resources --- Ten Parsec Sample
RECONS Resources --- Beyond Ten Parsecs
RECONS Team
about the logo
The RECONS logo image is an infrared picture of
the Alpha Centauri system taken while observing at the Cerro Tololo
Inter-american Observatory near La Serena, Chile. The mirror cover at
the 1.5m telescope, which has segments much like flower petals, was
partially closed, causing the diffraction effects seen for each of the
two stars, Alpha Centauri A and B. These two stars and Proxima
Centauri (beyond the field of view) comprise the nearest stellar
system to the Sun, which is, in fact, a triple star system.
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