ARCSAT ID NUMBER: AS09

DESCRIPTIVE TITLE: Stellar Environments of the Nearest Red Dwarfs

PI: Michele Silverstein (GSU)

OBSERVER(S): Michele Silverstein (GSU), Todd Henry (RECONS Institute)
and Tiffany Pewett (GSU)

UNCERTIFIED/UNTRAINED OBSERVERS:

COLLABORATORS: Wei-Chun Jao (GSU) and Jen Winters (GSU)

CONTACT INFORMATION: (PI/OBSERVER email/phone)
silverstein@astro.gsu.edu (404-413-6024), thenry@astro.gsu.edu
(404-413-6054)

TIME REQUESTED: 7 nights

1. DEC 14-20
2. DEC 07-13

7 nights are requested to observe ~100 stars, some of which will be
observed more than once to measure consistency between nights, and
eventually, observing runs.  Photometric standard stars will be
interspersed between science stars.  Any Moon phase is ok.

Note 1: Our requested weeks coincide with the only weeks the PI is
both available and not enrolled in a class.

Note 2: PI Silverstein and CoI Pewett (also requesting a week of
ARCSAT time) will coordinate observing to take advantage of weather
conditions in order to maximize the science.

INSTRUMENT: SurveyCam

FILTERS: VRI

COMMENTS: Here is the status of nights so far for this project:

                  program nts    backup nts    total wipeouts

2014-JUL/AUG/SEP        2              3                12
2014-OCT/NOV/DEC        2              1                 4
2015-JAN/FEB/MAR        -              -                 -
2015-APR/MAY/JUN        4              7                 3
2015-JUL/AUG/SEP        -              -                 -

TOTAL                   8             11                19

program nts    = used for primary photometric program
backup nts     = used for backup program(s)
total wipeouts = no useful data acquired

BRIEF SCIENCE JUSTIFICATION:  (restrict yourself to 1-2 paragraphs)

As part of the PI's thesis, we wish to gather high-quality VRI
photometry of red dwarf stars within 25 pc.  These data will be part
of a comprehensive search for substellar companions and circumstellar
disks around roughly 3000 red dwarfs within 25 pc. Fundamental
properties of the red dwarfs will also be determined using SED fitting
models --- for the subset of stars with parallaxes, radii will be
derived, thereby allowing us to pick out young/old stars via their
correspondingly large/small radii. The optical data from this program
are needed to evaluate the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of the
stars, and will be used in tandem with 2MASS and WISE photometry to
extend the SEDs to mid-infrared wavelengths.  

In a 7-night run, we will target ~100 stars with magnitudes 6-18 to
continue our survey of red dwarfs in the solar neighborhood.  Stars
will be observed twice each to test repeatability and to look for
variability.  Non-photometric conditions will be used to (1) survey
individual stars for flaring activity (a portion of Pewett's PhD
thesis), (2) measure magnitude differences for multiples resolved in
VRI, and (3) check separations and position angles of binaries,
astrometry that is useful for the RECONS 25 Parsec Database currently
being built as part of our survey of the solar neighborhood
(www.recons.org).