Journal
ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL
Volume 163, Issue 4, Pages -Publisher
IOP Publishing Ltd
DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ac52f6
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Funding
- National Science Foundation [AST-0507711, AST0908402, AST-1109445, AST-141206, AST-1715551, AST-2108373]
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The preliminary results of a multiyear program mapping the orbits of M-dwarf multiples within 25 pc are presented. Observations conducted using speckle interferometry detect companions for 63% of the surveyed stars, including new companions for 76% of the subset selected from Gaia DR2. A total of 97 new stellar companions have been directly detected. This program aims to ultimately map complete orbits for nearby M dwarfs and provide key epochs for binary orbital determinations.
We present the first results of a multiyear program to map the orbits of M-dwarf multiples within 25 pc. The observations were conducted primarily during 2019-2020 using speckle interferometry at the Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope in Chile, using the High-Resolution Camera mounted on the adaptive optics module (HRCam+SAM). The sample of nearby M dwarfs is drawn from three sources: multiples from the RECONS long-term astrometric monitoring program at the SMARTS 0.9 m; known multiples, for which these new observations will enable or improve orbit fits; and candidate multiples flagged by their astrometric fits in Gaia Data Release 2 (DR2). We surveyed 333 of our 338 M dwarfs via 830 speckle observations, detecting companions for 63% of the stars. Most notably, this includes new companions for 76% of the subset selected from Gaia DR2. In all, we report the first direct detections of 97 new stellar companions to the observed M dwarfs. Here we present the properties of those detections, the limits of each nondetection, and five orbits with periods 0.67-29 yr already observed as part of this program. Companions detected have projected separations of 0.'' 024-2.'' 0 (0.25-66 au) from their primaries and have Delta I less than or similar to 5.0 mag. This multiyear campaign will ultimately map complete orbits for nearby M dwarfs with periods up to 3 yr, and provide key epochs to stretch orbital determinations for binaries to 30 yr.
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