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Proper Motions as an Underutilized Tool for Estimating Distances and Ages for Nearby, Young Stars

Eric E. Mamajek
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Abstract

The recent availability of accurate proper motion catalogs for millions of stars on the sky (e.g. Tycho-2, UCAC) can benefit projects for which age estimates are needed for stars that are plausibly young (<100 Myr-old) and within a few hundred pc of the Sun. Here I summarize how accurate proper motions have been useful in (1) identifying new, nearby, post-T Tauri star populations, and (2) estimating distances to young field stars which are lacking trigonometric parallax measurements. The later enables the calculation of stellar luminosities and isochronal ages -- two quantities critical for investigations of the evolution of star/planet/disk systems.

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Eric E. Mamajek. 2005-02-23. Proper Motions as an Underutilized Tool for Estimating Distances and Ages for Nearby, Young Stars. https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0502489

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