YOUNG STARS NEAR EARTH: THE OCTANS-NEAR ASSOCIATION AND CASTOR MOVING GROUP

All cataloged stellar moving groups and associations with ages <= 100 Myr and within 100 pc of Earth have Galactic space motions (UVW) situated in a good box with dimensions similar to 20 km s(-1) on a side. Torres et al. defined the Octans Association as a group of 15 stars with age 20 Myr? and located similar to 140 pc from Earth, but with average V space velocity -3.6 km s(-1) that is well outside of the good box. We present a list of 14 Hipparcos star systems within 100 pc of Earth that we call Octans-Near; these systems have UVW similar to those of the much more distant Octans Association. The Octans-Near stars have apparent ages between about 30 and 100 Myr and their relationship to the Octans Association stars is unclear. Six additional star systems have UVW similar to those of Octans-Near stars and likely ages <= 200 Myr. These six systems include the late-type binary star EQ Peg-6.2 pc from Earth with likely age <= 100 Myr and thus likely to be the nearest known pre-main sequence star system. The UVW of stars in a previously proposed similar to 200 Myr old Castor moving group are not too dissimilar from the UVW of Octans-Near stars. However, stars in the Castor group-if it exists at all-are mostly substantially older than 200 Myr and thus generally can readily be distinguished from the much younger Octans-Near stars.