Context. CARMENES is a stabilised, high-resolution, double-channel spectrograph at the 3.5 m Calar Alto telescope. It is optimally designed for radial-velocity surveys of M dwarfs with potentially habitable Earth-mass planets. Aims. We prepare a list
of the brightest, single M dwarfs in each spectral subtype observable from the northern hemisphere, from which we will select the best planet-hunting targets for CARMENES. Methods. In this first paper on the preparation of our input catalogue, we compiled a large amount of public data and collected low-resolution optical spectroscopy with CAFOS at the 2.2 m Calar Alto telescope for 753 stars. We derived accurate spectral types using a dense grid of standard stars, a double least-squares minimisation technique, and 31 spectral indices previously defined by other authors. Additionally, we quantified surface gravity, metallicity, and chromospheric activity for all the stars in our sample. Results. We calculated spectral types for all 753 stars, of which 305 are new and 448 are revised. We measured pseudo-equivalent widths of Halpha for all the stars in our sample, concluded that chromospheric activity does not affect spectral typing from our indices, and tabulated 49 stars that had been reported to be young stars in open clusters, moving groups, and stellar associations. Of the 753 stars, two are new subdwarf candidates, three are T Tauri stars, 25 are giants, 44 are K dwarfs, and 679 are M dwarfs. Many of the 261 investigated dwarfs in the range M4.0-8.0 V are among the brightest stars known in their spectral subtype. Conclusions. This collection of low-resolution spectroscopic data serves as a candidate target list for the CARMENES survey and can be highly valuable for other radial-velocity surveys of M dwarfs and for studies of cool dwarfs in the solar neighbourhood.
The need to populate the fusion materials engineering data base has long been recognized, the IFMIF facility being the present proposed neutron source for this purpose. Re-evaluation of the regulatory approach for the EU proposed DEMO device shows th
at the specification of the neutron source can be reduced with respect to IFMIF, allowing lower risk technology solutions to be considered. The justification for this approach is presented and a description of a proposed facility, FAFNIR, is presented with more detailed discussion of the accelerator and target designs.
The boundary between professional and amateur astronomers gets narrower and narrower. We present several real examples, most of them published in refereed journals, of works resulting from fruitful collaborations between key amateur astronomers in Sp
ain and professional colleagues. The common denominator of these works is the search for binaries, mostly nearby, wide, common proper-motion pairs with low-mass stellar components, including some of the most fragile systems ever found.
LP 209-28 and LP 209-27 have similar proper motions as tabulated by several catalogues. Using seven astrometric epochs spanning 59 years, we confirm a common tangential velocity by measuring a constant angular separation of rho = 666.62+/-0.09 arcsec
. Accurate SDSS and 2MASS photometry indicates that they are normal dwarfs of approximate spectral types K7 V and M3 V. However, from their apparent magnitudes, both LP 209-28 and LP 209-27 are located at 200-250 pc, from where one can deduce an astonishing projected physical separation of 0.6-0.8 pc. The system Koenigstuhl 6 AB represents another world record among the least-bound systems with low-mass star components.
The sigma Orionis cluster is to date the star-forming region with the largest number of confirmed brown dwarfs and substellar objects below the deuterium burning mass limit. The most massive star, sigma Ori Aa, just in the cluster centre, is the sim2
0Msol-mass O9.5V star that illuminates the Horsehead Nebula, while the least massive object yet reported, S Ori 70, is only around 3 MJup. In the middle, there is a continuum of stars and substellar objects of all types (including magnetically active B2Vp stars, Herbig-Haro objects, FU Ori stars or T Tauri brown dwarfs) that makes the cluster a cornerstone in the study of the initial mass function, disc presence, X-ray emission or accretion at all mass domains. However, the derived masses strongly depend on the actual heliocentric distance to the cluster. Gaia will solve the dilemma.
This is the first of a series of works devoted to investigate cool dwarfs in wide multiple systems. Here, I present Koenigstuhl 4 A and B, two bright, intermediate M dwarfs with a common high proper-motion and separated by 299 arcsec. At the most pro
bable distance of the system, 19 pc, the projected physical separation is 5700 AU, which makes Koenigstuhl 4 AB to be one of the least bound binary systems with late-type components found to date. I also associate the primary with a ROSAT X-ray source for the first time.
Although the stellar and substellar populations have been studied in various young and old open clusters, additional studies in clusters in the age range from 5 to 100 Myr is crucial (e.g. to give more constrains on initial mass function variation wi
th improved statistics). Among the open cluster candidates from recent studies, two clusters are best suited for photometric survey of very-low mass stars and brown dwarfs, considering their youth and relative proximity: Alessi 5 (t ~ 40 Myr, d ~ 400 pc) and beta Monocerotis (t ~ 9.1 Myr, d ~ 400 pc). For both clusters, we performed an optical and near-infrared photometric survey, and a virtual observatory survey. Our survey is predicted to be sensitive from the massive B main sequence stars down to brown dwarfs of 30 M_Jup. Here, we present and discuss preliminary results, including the mass function obtained for Alessi 5, which is surprisingly very similar to the mass function of the Hyades (t ~ 600 Myr), although they are of very different ages.
Aims: We investigated in detail the system WDS 19312+3607, whose primary is an active M4.5Ve star previously thought to be young (tau ~ 300-500 Ma) based on high X-ray luminosity. Methods: We collected intermediate- and low-resolution optical spectra
taken with 2 m-class telescopes, photometric data from the $B$ to 8 mum bands, and eleven astrometric epochs with a time baseline of over 56 years for the two components in the system, G 125-15 and G 125-14. Results: We derived M4.5V spectral types for both stars, confirmed their common proper motion, estimated the heliocentric distance and projected physical separation, determined the galactocentric space velocities, and deduced a most-probable age older than 600 Ma. We discovered that the primary, G 125-15, is in turn an inflated, double-lined, spectroscopic binary with a short period of photometric variability of P ~ 1.6 d, which we associated to orbital synchronisation. The observed X-ray and Halpha emissions, photometric variability, and abnormal radius and effective temperature of G 125-15 AB indicate strong magnetic activity, possibly due to fast rotation. Besides, the estimated projected physical separation between G 125-15 AB and G 125-14 of about 1200 AU makes WDS 19312+3607 to be one of the widest systems with intermediate M-type primaries. Conclusions: G 125-15 AB is a nearby (d ~ 26 pc), bright (J ~ 9.6 mag), active spectroscopic binary with a single proper-motion companion of the same spectral type at a wide separation. They are thus ideal targets for specific follow-ups to investigate wide and close multiplicity or stellar expansion and surface cooling due to reduced convective efficiency.
Aims: I study new deep (DeltaV ~ 1.20-1.65 mag) occultation events of the delta Scuti, Herbig Ae/Be star V1247 Ori in the Ori OB1 b association. Methods: I use the V-band ASAS light curve of V1247 Ori, which covers the last nine years, together with
photometric data in the near-ultraviolet, visible, near-, and far-infrared taken from the literature. I carry out a periodogram analysis of the cleaned light curve and construct the spectral energy distribution of the star. Results: The star V1247 Ori is interesting for the study of the UX Orionis phenomenon, in which Herbig Ae/Be stars are occulted by their protoplanetary discs, for three reasons: brightness (V ~ 9.85 mag), large infrared excess at 20-100 mum (F_60 ~ 10 Jy), and photometric stability out of occultation (sigma(V) ~ 0.02 mag), which may help to determine the location and spatial structure of the occulting disc clumps.
The Aladin sky atlas of the Virtual Observatory has shown to be a powerful and easy-handling tool for the discovery, confirmation, and characterisation of high proper-motion, multiple stellar systems of large separation in the solar vicinity. Some of
these systems have very low mass components (at the star/brown dwarf boundary) and are amongst the least bound systems found to date. With projected physical separations of up to tens of thousands astronomical units, these systems represent a challenge for theoretical scenarios of formation of very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs. Here we show preliminary results of a novel virtual search of binary systems and companions to Luyten stars with proper motions between 0.5 and 1.0 arcsec/a.
