Editing Research Consortium On Nearby Stars

The '''REsearch Consortium On Nearby Stars''' (''RECONS'') is an international group of astronomers founded in 1994 to investigate the [[star]]s nearest to the [[Solar System]] - with a focus on those within 10&nbsp;[[parsec]]s (32.6&nbsp;[[light year]]s), but as of 2012 the horizon was stretched to 25&nbsp;parsecs. In part the project hopes a more accurate survey of local star systems will give a better picture of the star systems in the [[Milky Way|Galaxy]] as a whole.

==Notable discoveries==
The Consortium claims authorship of the series ''The Solar Neighborhood'' in ''[[The Astronomical Journal]]'', that began in 1994.<ref>
{{cite journal
  | first1 = Todd J.    | last1 = Henry 
  | first2 = J. Davy    | last2 = Kirkpatrick 
  | first3 = Douglas A. | last3 = Simons 
  | date = October 1994
  | title = The solar neighborhood. I:&nbsp;Standard spectral types (K5-M8) for northern dwarfs within eight parsecs
  | journal = [[The Astronomical Journal]]
  | volume = 108  | issue = 4  | pages = 1437–1444
  | bibcode = 1994AJ....108.1437H  | doi = 10.1086/117167
| doi-access = free}}
</ref> This series now numbers nearly 40&nbsp;papers and submissions. The following discoveries are from this series:
* [[GJ 1061]] was discovered to be the 20th&nbsp;nearest known star system, at a distance of 11.9&nbsp;light years.<ref>
{{cite journal
  | first1 = Todd J.   | last1 = Henry   | author1-link = Todd J. Henry 
  | first2 = Philip A. | last2 = Ianna 
  | first3 = J. Davy   | last3 = Kirkpatrick
  | first4 = Hartmut   | last4 = Jahreiss 
  | date = July 1997
  | title = The solar neighborhood. IV:&nbsp;Discovery of the twentieth nearest star
  | journal = [[The Astronomical Journal]]
  | volume = 114  | issue =  | pages = 388–395
  | doi = 10.1086/118482  | bibcode = 1997AJ....114..388H
}}
</ref>

* The first accurate measurement of distance for [[DEN 0255-4700|DENIS 0255-4700]]&nbsp;. At a distance of 16.2&nbsp;light years, it is the nearest known [[Brown dwarf#Spectral class L|class&nbsp;L]] [[brown dwarf]] object to the Solar System.<ref>
{{cite journal
  | last1 = Costa | first1 = Edgardo     | last2 = Méndez | first2 = René A.
  | last3 = Jao   | first3 = W.-C.       | last4 = Henry  | first4 = Todd J.
  | last6 = Ianna | first6 = Philip A.   | last5 = Subasavage | first5 = John P.
  | author4-link = Todd J. Henry   
  | date = September 2006
  | title=The solar neighborhood. XVI:&nbsp;Parallaxes from CTIOPI: Final results from the 1.5&nbsp;m telescope program
  | journal = [[The Astronomical Journal]]
  | volume = 132  | issue = 3  | pages = 1234–1247
  | doi = 10.1086/505706
  | bibcode = 2006AJ....132.1234C  | citeseerx = 10.1.1.622.2310
| s2cid = 18952940 }}
</ref>
* The discovery of 20&nbsp;previously unknown star systems within 10&nbsp;parsecs of the [[Solar System]]. These are in addition to 8&nbsp;new star systems announced between 2000 and 2005.<ref>
{{cite journal
  | last1 = Henry | first1 = Todd J.  | author1-link = Todd J. Henry 
  | display-authors = etal
  | date = December 2006
  | title = The solar neighborhood. XVII:&nbsp;Parallax results from the CTIOPI 0.9&nbsp;m program: 20&nbsp;New members of the RECONS 10&nbsp;parsec sample
  | journal = [[The Astronomical Journal]]
  | volume = 132  | issue = 6  | pages = 2360–2371
  | doi=10.1086/508233
  | bibcode=2006AJ....132.2360H  | arxiv = astro-ph/0608230
  | s2cid = 15002841 | url=http://repositorio.uchile.cl/bitstream/2250/126230/1/Henry_Todd.pdf
  | access-date =     | url-status = 
}}
</ref>

''RECONS'' is listed explicitly as an author on papers submitted to the ''[[Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society]]'' since 2004.<ref>
{{ cite journal
  | last1 = Henry    | first1 = T.J.  | last2 = Beaulieu  | first2 = T.D.
  | last3 = Brown    | first3 = M.A.  | last4 = Jao       | first4 = W.C.
  | last5 = Monteiro | first5 = H.    | last6 = Subasavage | first6 = J.P.
  | author7 = RECONS    | author1-link = Todd J. Henry 
  | date = December 2004
  | title = New nearby stars from NOAO and SMARTS observations
  | series = American Astronomical Society meeting&nbsp;205, #165.07
  | journal = [[Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society]]
  | volume = 36  | issue =   | page = 1618
  | bibcode = 2004AAS...20516507H
}}
</ref>

The ''RECONS'' web page includes the frequently referenced "List of the 100&nbsp;nearest star systems".<ref>
{{cite web
  | title = List of the 100&nbsp;nearest star systems
  | series = RECONS
  | place = Atlanta, GA
  | publisher = [[Georgia State University]]
  | department = Department of Physics and Astronomy
  | url = http://www.astro.gsu.edu/RECONS/TOP100.posted.htm
  | access-date =    |url-status = 
}}
</ref> They update this list as discoveries are made. A list of all RECONS parallaxes<ref>
{{cite web
  | title = RECONS parallaxes
  | place = Atlanta, GA
  | publisher = [[Georgia State University]]
  | department = Department of Physics and Astronomy
  | url = http://www.astro.gsu.edu/RECONS/publishedpi.2016.0510
  | access-date =    | url-status = 
}}
</ref> is available, as are all papers in ''the solar neighborhood'' series<ref>
{{cite web
  | title = ''The solar neighborhood'' series publications
  | series = RECONS
  | place = Atlanta, GA
  | publisher = [[Georgia State University]]
  | department = Department of Physics and Astronomy
  | url = http://www.astro.gsu.edu/RECONS/Publications.htm
  | access-date =    | url-status = 
}}
</ref> and <ref>
{{cite AV media
  | title = The RECONS Movie
  | others = produced by Adric Riedel (Caltech, RECONS)
  | publisher = Research Consortium On Nearby Stars (RECONS)
  | medium = video
  | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up_MqNBv0FE
  | access-date =    | url-status =     | via = [[YouTube]]
}}
</ref> which illustrates data from the ''RECONS 25&nbsp;Parsec Database''.

== Members ==
Key astronomers involved in the project include
* [[Todd J. Henry]] ([[Georgia State University|GSU]]) (consortium founder and director)
* Wei-Chun Jao ([[Georgia State University|GSU]])
* John Subasavage ([[United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station|USNO-Flagstaff]])
* Charlie Finch ([[United States Naval Observatory|USNO-DC]])
* Adric Riedel ([[Caltech]])
* Sergio Dieterich ([[Carnegie Institution for Science|Carnegie]])
* Jennifer Winters ([[Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics|H-S CfA]])
* Phil Ianna ([[University of Virginia|UVA]]).

==See also==
* [[List of astronomical societies]]
* [[List of nearest stars]]

==References==
{{reflist|25em}}

==External links==
* {{cite web
  | title = RECONS homepage / official website
  | place = Atlanta, GA
  | publisher = [[Georgia State University]]
  | department = Department of Physics and Astronomy
  | url = http://www.astro.gsu.edu/RECONS/
  | access-date =    | url-status = 
}}

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[[Category:Astronomy organizations]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1994]]