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HD 155876 (Proxima Herculis)


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An old nearby quadruple system Gliese 225.2
We discovered a new component E in the nearby multiple system Gliese225.2, making it quadruple. We derive a preliminary 24-yr astrometricorbit of this new sub-system C,E and a slightly improved orbit of the68-yr pair A,B. The orientations of the A,B and C,E orbits indicate thatthey may be close to coplanarity. The orbit of AB,CE is rather wide anddoes not allow to determine its curvature reliably. Thus, the 390 yrorbit computed by Baize (1980, Inf. Circ. IAU Comm., 26(80)) waspremature. The infrared colors and magnitudes of components A, B, and Cmatch standard values for dwarfs of spectral types K5V, M0V, and K4V,respectively. The new component E, 3 magnitudes below the Main Sequence,has an anomalously blue color index. We estimate its mass as roughly 0.2solar from the astrometric orbit, although there remains someinconsistency in the data hinting on a higher mass or on the existenceof additional components in the system. Large space velocities indicatethat Gliese 225.2 belongs to the thick Galactic disk and is not young.This quadruple system survived for a long time and should be dynamicallystable.

Contributions to the Nearby Stars (NStars) Project: Spectroscopy of Stars Earlier than M0 within 40 Parsecs: The Northern Sample. I.
We have embarked on a project, under the aegis of the Nearby Stars(NStars)/Space Interferometry Mission Preparatory Science Program, toobtain spectra, spectral types, and, where feasible, basic physicalparameters for the 3600 dwarf and giant stars earlier than M0 within 40pc of the Sun. In this paper, we report on the results of this projectfor the first 664 stars in the northern hemisphere. These resultsinclude precise, homogeneous spectral types, basic physical parameters(including the effective temperature, surface gravity, and overallmetallicity [M/H]), and measures of the chromospheric activity of ourprogram stars. Observed and derived data presented in this paper arealso available on the project's Web site.

A Near-Infrared, Wide-Field, Proper-Motion Search for Brown Dwarfs
A common proper-motion survey of M dwarf stars within 8 pc of the Sunreveals no new stellar or brown dwarf companions at wide separations(~100-1400 AU). This survey tests whether the brown dwarf ``desert''extends to large separations around M dwarf stars and further exploresthe census of the solar neighborhood. The sample includes 66 stars northof -30° and within 8 pc of the Sun. Existing first-epoch images arecompared with new J-band images of the same fields an average of 7 yrlater to reveal proper-motion companions within a ~4' radius of theprimary star. No new companions are detected to a J-band limitingmagnitude of ~16.5, corresponding to a companion mass of ~40 Jupitermasses for an assumed age of 5 Gyr at the mean distance of the objectsin the survey, 5.8 pc.

The Solar Neighborhood. VI. New Southern Nearby Stars Identified by Optical Spectroscopy
Broadband optical spectra are presented for 34 known and candidatenearby stars in the southern sky. Spectral types are determined using anew method that compares the entire spectrum with spectra of more than100 standard stars. We estimate distances to 13 candidate nearby starsusing our spectra and new or published photometry. Six of these starsare probably within 25 pc, and two are likely to be within the ResearchConsortium on Nearby Stars (RECONS) horizon of 10 pc.

A Coronagraphic Survey for Companions of Stars within 8 Parsecs
We present the technique and results of a survey of stars within 8 pc ofthe Sun with declinations δ>-35° (J2000.00). The survey,designed to find without color bias faint companions, consists ofoptical coronagraphic images of the 1' field of view centered on eachstar and infrared direct images with a 32" field of view. The imageswere obtained through the optical Gunn r and z filters and the infraredJ and K filters. The survey achieves sensitivities up to 4 absolutemagnitudes fainter than the prototype brown dwarf, Gliese 229B. However,this sensitivity varies with the seeing conditions, the intrinsicbrightness of the star observed, and the angular distance from the star.As a result, we tabulate sensitivity limits for each star in the survey.We used the criterion of common proper motion to distinguish companionsand to determine their luminosities. In addition to the brown dwarf Gl229B, we have identified six new stellar companions of the sample stars.Since the survey began, accurate trigonometric parallax measurements formost of the stars have become available. As a result, some of the starswe originally included should no longer be included in the 8 pc sample.In addition, the 8 pc sample is incomplete at the faint end of the mainsequence, complicating our calculation of the binary fraction of browndwarfs. We assess the sensitivity of the survey to stellar companionsand to brown dwarf companions of different masses and ages.

Catalogue of Apparent Diameters and Absolute Radii of Stars (CADARS) - Third edition - Comments and statistics
The Catalogue, available at the Centre de Données Stellaires deStrasbourg, consists of 13 573 records concerning the results obtainedfrom different methods for 7778 stars, reported in the literature. Thefollowing data are listed for each star: identifications, apparentmagnitude, spectral type, apparent diameter in arcsec, absolute radiusin solar units, method of determination, reference, remarks. Commentsand statistics obtained from CADARS are given. The Catalogue isavailable in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcar?J/A+A/367/521

Accurate masses of very low mass stars. IV. Improved mass-luminosity relations
We present improved visual and near-infrared empirical mass-luminosityrelations for very low mass stars (M<0.6 Msolar). Theserelations make use of all stellar masses in this range known with betterthan 10% accuracy, most of which are new determinations with 0.2 to 5%accuracy from our own programme, presented in a companion paper. Aspredicted by stellar structure models, the metallicity dispersion of thefield populations induces a large scatter around the mean V bandrelation, while the infrared relations are much tighter. The agreementof the observed infrared mass-luminosity relations with the theoreticalrelations of Baraffe et al. (\cite{baraffe98}) and Siess et al.(\cite{siess00}) is impressive, while we find an increasinglysignificant discrepancy in the V band for decreasing masses. Thetheoretical mass-luminosity relation which is insufficiently steep, andhas introduced significant errors in the local stellar mass functionsderived from V band luminosity functions. Based on observations made atthe Observatoire de Haute Provence (CNRS), and at the CFH Telescope,operated by the NRCC, the CNRS and the University of Hawaii

ICCD Speckle Observations of Binary Stars. XXIII. Measurements during 1982-1997 from Six Telescopes, with 14 New Orbits
We present 2017 observations of 1286 binary stars, observed by means ofspeckle interferometry using six telescopes over a 15 year period from1982 April to 1997 June. These measurements constitute the 23dinstallment in CHARA's speckle program at 2 to 4 m class telescopes andinclude the second major collection of measurements from the MountWilson 100 inch (2.5 m) Hooker Telescope. Orbital elements are alsopresented for 14 systems, seven of which have had no previouslypublished orbital analyses.

Speckle Interferometry at the US Naval Observatory. V.
The results of 1544 speckle interferometric observations of 637 binarystars, ranging in separation from 0.25" to 5.25", are tabulated. Theseobservations were obtained using the 66 cm refractor at the US NavalObservatory in Washington, DC, with an intensified CCD detector. This isthe fifth in a series of papers presenting measures obtained with thissystem and covers the period 1998 January 1 through December 31. Randomerrors for all measures are estimated to be 17.6 mas in separation and0.55d/ρ in position angle, where ρ is the separation inarcseconds.

Two-colour photometry for 9473 components of close Hipparcos double and multiple stars
Using observations obtained with the Tycho instrument of the ESAHipparcos satellite, a two-colour photometry is produced for componentsof more than 7 000 Hipparcos double and multiple stars with angularseparations 0.1 to 2.5 arcsec. We publish 9473 components of 5173systems with separations above 0.3 arcsec. The majority of them did nothave Tycho photometry in the Hipparcos catalogue. The magnitudes arederived in the Tycho B_T and V_T passbands, similar to the Johnsonpassbands. Photometrically resolved components of the binaries withstatistically significant trigonometric parallaxes can be put on an HRdiagram, the majority of them for the first time. Based on observationsmade with the ESA Hipparcos satellite.

Speckle camera for the Astronomical Observatory
Not Available

Infrared Space Observatory Photometric Search of Main-Sequence Stars for Vega-Type Systems
We obtained 3.6-20 μm photometry of 38 bright [IRAS F_nu(12μm)>0.7 Jy] main-sequence stars with the Infrared SpaceObservatory (ISO). Observations were conducted with the ISOPHOTinstrument, in the single-pointing photometry mode, through filters at3.6, 11.5, and 20.0 mum. We searched for excess (Vega-type) emissionfrom dust at temperatures >~100 K, located at ~1-60 AU from thestars. We thus sampled dust at warm, terrestrial material temperaturesand at cool (~100 K) temperatures of possible Kuiper Belt-type regionsin these systems. We detected 20 μm excesses from ~14% of oursources, but we did not detect 11.5 μm excesses from any of them. Wepresent single-temperature blackbody models of the location and densityof dust emission around 10 stars, two of them (29 Cyg and Gl 816) withexcesses newly reported here. We make a thorough comparison of ISO andIRAS data on our target stars and propose a new calibration procedurefor ISOPHOT staring measurements at 3.6, 11.5, and 20 mum.

Speckle Interferometry at the US Naval Observatory. III.
Position angles and separations resulting from 2578 speckleinterferometric observations of 590 binary stars are tabulated. This isthe third in a series of papers presenting measures obtained using the66 cm refractor at the US Naval Observatory in Washington, DC, andcovers the period from 1995 June through 1996 December. Program starsrange in separation from 0.2" to 4.3", with a limiting magnitude ofV=11. Random errors are estimated to be 17.0 mas in separation and0.56d/rho in position angle, where rho is the separation in arcseconds.These are the first results acquired using an improved intensified CCDdetector. The new detector, in concert with an intensity-filteringtechnique applied in software, has permitted a 1 mag increase in dynamicrange, to 3.5 mag, for pairs separated by about 2". The instrumentationand calibration are briefly described, with an emphasis on thecharacteristics of the new detector. The software filter used toincrease the dynamic range is also described.

Long-Term Stability of Planets in Binary Systems
A simple question of celestial mechanics is investigated: in whatregions of phase space near a binary system can planets persist for longtimes? The planets are taken to be test particles moving in the field ofan eccentric binary system. A range of values of the binary eccentricityand mass ratio is studied, and both the case of planets orbiting closeto one of the stars, and that of planets outside the binary orbiting thesystem's center of mass, are examined. From the results, empiricalexpressions are developed for both (1) the largest orbit around each ofthe stars and (2) the smallest orbit around the binary system as awhole, in which test particles survive the length of the integration(10^4 binary periods). The empirical expressions developed, which areroughly linear in both the mass ratio mu and the binary eccentricity e,are determined for the range 0.0<=e<=0.7-0.8 and0.1<=mu<=0.9 in both regions and can be used to guide searches forplanets in binary systems. After considering the case of a singlelow-mass planet in binary systems, the stability of a mutuallyinteracting system of planets orbiting one star of a binary system isexamined, though in less detail.

Visual binary orbits and masses POST HIPPARCOS
The parallaxes from Hipparcos are an important ingredient to derive moreaccurate masses for known orbital binaries, but in order to exploit theparallaxes fully, the orbital elements have to be known to similarprecision. The present work gives improved orbital elements for some 205systems by combining the Hipparcos astrometry with existing ground-basedobservations. The new solutions avoid the linearity constraints andomissions in the Hipparcos Catalog by using the intermediate TransitData which can be combined with ground-based observations in arbitarilycomplex orbital models. The new orbital elements and parallaxes give newmass-sum values together with realistic total error-estimates. To getindividual masses at least for main-sequence systems, the mass-ratioshave been generally estimated from theoretical isochrones and observedmagnitude-differences. For some 25 short-period systems, however, trueastrometric mass-ratios have been determined through the observedorbital curvature in the 3-year Hipparcos observation interval. Thefinal result is an observed `mass-luminosity relation' which falls closeto theoretical expectation, but with `outliers' due to undetectedmultiplicity or to composition- and age-effects in the nonuniformnear-star sample. Based in part on observations collected with the ESAHipparcos astrometry satellite. Tables~ 1, 3, 4 and 6 are also availablein electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp tocdsarc.u-strasbg.fr~(130.79.128.5) or viahttp://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html

Mass determination of astrometric binaries with Hipparcos. III. New results for 28 systems
This paper is the third of a series devoted to the determination ofstellar masses from Hipparcos data. This is a continuation of Martin etal. (1997), who introduced the theory and assessed the performance ofthe method from simulated data, and of a second paper with the firstresults for 46 systems, ( te[Martin & Mignard 1998]{Mar98}). Theorbit file maintained by the CHARA group and new publications of orbitalelements made the processing of 70 additional candidate systemspossible, including 28 of the 145 systems already tested in the previouswork. Significant results were obtained on 22 systems, with relativeaccuracy better than 25% for the masses of 17 binaries. New estimatesare also given for 6 systems previously investigated, thanks to reliablevalues of the magnitude difference from the Hipparcos catalogue ( te[ESA1997]{ESA97}). New orbital elements are proposed for HIP 12623 (12Persei) from speckle/spectroscopic measurements. Results are discussedfor each system, alongside the mass-luminosity relation based onHipparcos magnitudes and distances.

Rotation and chromospheric activity in field M dwarfs
We have obtained high resolution spectra for a volume-limited sample of118 field M dwarfs. From these observations we derive projectedrotational velocities and fluxes in the H_alpha and H_beta lines. 8stars are double-lined spectroscopic binaries with measured or probableperiods short enough for rotation to be tidally synchronized with theorbit, and another 11 are visual binaries where we cannot yet separatethe lines of the two stars. Of the remaining 99 stars, 24 haverotational velocities above our detection limit of ~ 2 km.s(-1) , andsome are quite fast rotators, including two with v sin i\ =~ 30 km.s(-1)and one with v sin i\ =~ 50 km.s(-1) . Given the small radii of Mdwarfs, these moderate rotational velocities correspond to rather shortmaximum rotational periods, of only 7-8 hours. These three stars aregood candidates for Doppler imaging. We find that rotation is stronglycorrelated with both spectral type and kinematic population: all starswith measurable rotation are later than M3.5, and all but one havekinematic properties typical of the young disk, or intermediate betweenthe young disk and the the old disk. We interpret this correlation asevidence for a spin-down timescale that increases with decreasing mass.At the age of the old disk or halo, all stars earlier than M5-M6(0.1-0.15Msun) have spun-down to below our detection limit,while at the age of the young disk this has only happened for starsearlier than M3.5. The one star with measurable rotation and akinematics intermediate between old disk and population II has spectraltype M6. It is probably an old star whose mass is low enough that it hasretained significant rotation up to present, still consistently withlonger spin-down times for lower mass stars. We observe, on the otherhand, no conspicuous change in the v sin i\ distribution or activitypattern at the mass (M ~ 0.35 Msun) below which stars remainfully convective down to the main sequence. These new data areconsistent with a saturated correlation between rotation and activity,similar to the one observed for younger or more massive stars:L_X/Lbol and L_{H_alpha }/Lbol both correlate withv sin i\ for v sin i\ -5km.s^{-1} and then saturate at respectively10^{-2.5} and 10^{-3.5}$. Based on observations made at the Observatoirede Haute-Provence (CNRS), France Tables 2 and 4 are also available inelectronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr(130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/Abstract.html.

Mass determination of astrometric binaries with Hipparcos. II. Selection of candidates and results
In a previous paper (\cite{Mar97}) we have shown that for double starswith orbital periods smaller than about 25 years, it was possible todetermine from the Hipparcos data, the mass ratio B of the components orthe difference between the mass and intensity ratios, beta -B, providedthe orbital elements of the relative orbit are available. From anextensive literature search we have selected 145 potential systems, ofwhich 46 yielded eventually a satisfactory solution. For eight systemswith the largest separations, the peculiarities of the natural directionassociated to the Hipparcos observations, the 'hippacentre', have beenfully exploited to derive the mass ratio of the components without anyadditional assumption. For the remaining 38, the derivation of the massratio was possible only by taking the magnitude difference between thetwo components from other sources. The parallax determinedsimultaneously, is then used to produce the individual masses of thecomponents. The astrophysical relevance of the results is discussed andwhen possible (17 systems) the masses are compared to ground-basedvalues.

ICCD Speckle Observations of Binary Stars. XVII. Measurements During 1993-1995 From the Mount Wilson 2.5-M Telescope.
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1997AJ....114.1639H&db_key=AST

ICCD Speckle Observations of Binary Stars. XVI. Measurements During 1982-1989 from the Perkins 1.8-M Telescope.
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1997AJ....114.1623F&db_key=AST

Mass determination of astrometric binaries with Hipparcos. I. Theory and simulation
The analysis of the observations of double stars made by the ESAsatellite Hipparcos has involved a very specific processing to derivethe relevant astrometric parameters. This required to distinguishbetween several categories of double stars according to the separationand orbital motion. We show that for close pairs with orbital periodless than about 20 years, the concept of photocentric orbit of anastrometric binary needs to be generalized to benefit fully from theaccuracy of Hipparcos. We introduce a point more naturally associatedwith the Hipparcos observations, the hippacentre, whose orbital path isnot longer similar to the relative keplerian orbit of the components,unlike that of the photocentre. For systems with separation larger thanabout 0.3", it is possible to determine separately the mass and theintensity ratio of the components from the absolute path of thehippacentre on the sky. For smaller separations the scale of thephotocentric orbit is recovered as a limiting case. The scope of thispaper is to set forth the principles of the method and to explore itspossibilities and limitations from extensive simulations. Based onobservations made by the ESA Hipparcos satellite.

Dust Disks around Main Sequence Stars
Many nearby main sequence stars are surrounded by cool dust radiatingstrongly in the far-IR. The characteristics of some of the prototypesystems will be discussed. The dust is understood to represent debrisrelated to planet formation, and the known disk systems may be denseanalogs of the Kuiper Belt structure in our outer solar system. ISOobserving programs plan to address questions regarding how commonplanetary material is around normal stars and how its amount andlocation depend on system age. These questions are central to anunderstanding of the place of the "Vega/β Pic" disks in stellarevolution. Preliminary results from the first year of ISO operation willbe reported.

The Solar Neighborhood.III.A Near-Infrared Search for Widely Separated Low-Mass Binaries
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1996AJ....112.2238S

ICCD Speckle Observations of Binary Stars. XII. Measurements During 1984-1986 From the Perkins 1.8 M Telescope
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1996AJ....111..393A&db_key=AST

Binary Star Orbits From Speckle Interferometry. VIII. Orbits of 37 Close Visual System
Abstract image available at:http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?1996AJ....111..370H&db_key=AST

Vitesses radiales. Catalogue WEB: Wilson Evans Batten. Subtittle: Radial velocities: The Wilson-Evans-Batten catalogue.
We give a common version of the two catalogues of Mean Radial Velocitiesby Wilson (1963) and Evans (1978) to which we have added the catalogueof spectroscopic binary systems (Batten et al. 1989). For each star,when possible, we give: 1) an acronym to enter SIMBAD (Set ofIdentifications Measurements and Bibliography for Astronomical Data) ofthe CDS (Centre de Donnees Astronomiques de Strasbourg). 2) the numberHIC of the HIPPARCOS catalogue (Turon 1992). 3) the CCDM number(Catalogue des Composantes des etoiles Doubles et Multiples) byDommanget & Nys (1994). For the cluster stars, a precise study hasbeen done, on the identificator numbers. Numerous remarks point out theproblems we have had to deal with.

A numerical study of the influence of the Poynting-Robertson effect on the equilibrium points of the photogravitational restricted three-body problem. I. Coplanar case.
Existence and stability of equilibrium points for particles moving inthe vicinity of two massive bodies which exert light radiation arestudied numerically. The dynamical system formed is described by meansof the photogravitational circular restricted three-body model whichincludes the relativistic components of the radiation force constitutingthe Poynting-Robertson effect. The differential equations expressingthis model are presented. The relations determining the positions of thecoplanar equilibrium points, as well as the linear system governingtheir stability are produced and studied numerically. The results arediscussed and presented in graphical and tabular form.

Mesures d'etoiles doubles faites a Nice, etoiles doubles nouvelles (24eme serie) decouvertes a Nice.
Table 1 gives 1182 measurements of 682 binaries observed with the 74 and50 cm refractors. Table 2 lists 26 new binaries discovered with the 50cm refractor.

The mass-luminosity relation for stars of mass 1.0 to 0.08 solar mass
Mass-luminosity relations determined at IR wavelengths are presented forstars with masses 1.0 to 0.08 solar mass. Using IR speckle imagingtechniques on a sample of nearby binaries, we have been able toconcentrate on the lower main sequence, for which an accuratemass-luminosity calibration has remained problematic. In addition, themass-visual luminosity relation for stars with 2.0-0.08 solar mass isproduced by implementing new photometric relations linking V to JHKwavelengths for the nearby stars, supplemented with eclipsing binaryinformation. These relations predict that objects with masses of about0.08 solar mass have M(K) of about 10 and M(V) of about 18.

A development of double star astronomy after HIPPARCOS
Double and multiple stars introduced in the Input Catalog based on datafrom the Hipparcos satellite are described. It is noted that Hipparcoswill provide data for an extended sample of 118,000 stars in astrometricand photometric uniform systems. A large subset of double and multiplesystems represent more than 10 percent of the Input Catalog. TheHipparcos satellite makes it possible to increase the accuracy of theexpected data by a factor of 10, but its short operational period whichis 10 -100 times shorter than the majority of the known orbital periodof visual double stars will have a negative impact on research on doubleand multiple systems.

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Observation and Astrometry data

Constellation:Hercules
Right ascension:17h12m07.83s
Declination:+45°39'57.8"
Apparent magnitude:9.447
Distance:6.322 parsecs
Proper motion RA:252.6
Proper motion Dec:-1571.8
B-T magnitude:11.223
V-T magnitude:9.594

Catalogs and designations:
Proper NamesProxima Herculis
  (Edit)
HD 1989HD 155876
TYCHO-2 2000TYC 3501-1952-1
USNO-A2.0USNO-A2 1350-09114362
HIPHIP 84140

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