NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2009B-0341
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NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2009B-0341 |
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PI: Sebastien Lepine, American Museum of Natural History, lepine@amnh.org
Address: Astrophysics, Central Park West at 79th street, New York, NY 10024, USA
CoI: Pierre Bergeron, Universite de Montreal
CoI: Marie-Michele Limoges, Universite de Montreal
Title: A complete census of Galactic white dwarfs to 40 parsecs of the Sun.
Abstract:
We propose to obtain spectra for 306 new white dwarfs suspected to
be within 40 parsecs of the Sun. Spectral analysis will confirm the
white dwarf status and provide estimates of atmospheric parameters and
reliable distance for all objects. This survey will significantly
expand the census of nearby white dwarfs, which is currently complete
only to about 20 parsecs of the Sun, a volume which includes only a
little over 120 white dwarfs. Our new survey will provide a
statistically complete census of white dwarfs to a significantly larger
distance. In contrast to past surveys of nearby white dwarfs which
suffer from significant kinematic bias due to proper motion selection,
our new census will be relatively free of kinematic bias due to a much
smaller proper motion limit used in the target selection. The census
will thus more efficiently probe the local population of white dwarfs in
the Galactic disk.
National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, P.O. Box 26732, Tucson, Arizona 85726, Phone: (520) 318-8000, Fax: (520) 318-8360
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NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2009B-0341 |
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