RECONS Mission StatementThe 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 and NASA. Our primary observing programs are carried out via the SMARTS 0.9m and 1.5m telescopes at CTIO in the Chilean Andes.
RECONS Results
The Solar Neighborhood (TSN) Series in The Astronomical Journal TSN52: Presumed Identical Twin M Dwarfs Are Actually Fraternal (Couperus, Henry, Osten, et al.) TSN51: Variability of Nearby M Dwarfs with Exoplanets (Kar, Henry, Couperus, et al.) Trigonometric Parallaxes from the RECONS Astrometry Program at CTIO The RECONS Movie
Annual Reviews Article: The Character of M Dwarfs (Henry & Jao)
The Character of M Dwarfs
Posters at Cool Stars 22 in San Diego (JUN 2024)
Sebastian Carrazco Gaxiola --- Young/Active/Mature K Dwarfs Andrew Couperus --- Identical and Fraternal M Dwarf Twins Tim Johns --- RKSTAR Sample and Radial Velocity Survey of K Dwarfs Aman Kar --- M Dwarf Variability from Hours to Decades Madison LeBlanc --- RMSTAR Sample and Companion Survey of M Dwarfs The Smallest Star (Phil Plait) RECONS Census of Objects Nearer than 10 Parsecs List of the Nearest 100 Stellar Systems Slideshow of Objects within 10 Parsecs Figures Describing the RECONS 10 Parsec Sample Movie of 10 Parsec Systems Movie of Proxima Centauri's Motion over 10 Years (small) (large) Movie of Young Stars within 100 Parsecs
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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