Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Abstract

• We analyze 6603 observations from Robo-AO’s M dwarf survey taken on the 2.1m Kitt Peak telescope and perform a multiplicity comparison with Gaia DR2. Through its laser-guided, automated system, the Robo-AO instrument has yielded the largest M dwarf multiplicity survey to date. After developing an interface to visually identify and locate stellar companions, we selected eleven low-significance Robo-AO detections for follow-up on the Keck II telescope using its NIRC2 imager. With Robo-AO, we find 550 candidate companions within 400 around 539 stars out of 5490 unique targets, most of which are new discoveries. Using a position cross match with DR2 on all targets, we assess the binary recoverability of Gaia DR2 and compare the properties of multiples resolved by both Robo-AO and Gaia. The catalog of nearby M dwarf systems and their basic properties presented here can assist in transiting exoplanet surveys which observe these stars, such as the NASA TESS mission.

Creator

• Lamman, Claire

Date Awarded

• 2019-01-01

Academic Affiliation

• Astronomy

Advisor

• Berta-Thompson, Zachory

Committee Member

• Jones, Daniel
• Madigan, Ann-Marie

Granting Institution

• University of Colorado Boulder

Subject

• binarity
• binary
• observation
• astrophysics
• stars
• stellar

Last Modified

• 2019-12-02

Resource Type

• Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Rights Statement

• In Copyright

Language

• English [eng]

Relationships

In Collection:

• Arts and Sciences Honors Program

Items

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Visibility	Actions
	roboAoMDwarfMultiplicitySurvey.pdf	2019-11-30	Public	Download