Members of the RECONS 10 parsec sample as of January 1, 2010 are shown
on the HR Diagram (HRD), using Mv vs. V-K. Solid red and blue points
indicate stars and brown dwarfs for which RECONS has determined the
first accurate parallaxes placing them within 10 parsecs. The Sun is
represented by a yellow point, and the four known subdwarfs are
represented by green points. The two magenta points represent the
three components of the AU/AT Mic system that is only about 10 Myr
old (AT Mic A and B are virtually identical so the points overlap).
The twentieth nearest star system, GJ 1061, was found to be only 3.7 parsecs away by the RECONS team in 1997. Five additional systems have been found within 5 parsecs since 2000: LHS 288, SO 0253+1652, SCR 1845-6357 (a binary composed of one M dwarf and one T dwarf), DEN 1048-3958, and DEN 0255-4700. Two white dwarfs, LHS 145 and GJ 2012, have recently been revealed to be within 10 parsecs. The red point just above 2M 0036+1821 is WT 460 B (spectral type L1.0V), which is a companion to a red dwarf. RECONS measured the first parallax for this double system, and we are closely monitoring the orbital motion of the binary to determine masses for the components. The B component is located at a very important spot in this figure, at what might be the empirical end of the stellar main sequence. The three objects to the lower right of WT 460 B are the other three L dwarfs known within 10 parsecs, all of which are likely brown dwarfs, not stars.
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