New M Dwarfs: Spectroscopic Study of 1080 Nearby Active Stars

NASA HEASARC provides a table from a 2010 spectroscopic study of 1080 nearby active M dwarfs, selected by correlating the 2MASS and ROSAT catalogs. The dataset includes derived spectral types, distances, H-alpha emission line measurements, X-ray luminosities, and tangential velocities for a subset of stars. Spectral types range from K5 to M6, with nearly half of the stars located within 50 parsecs.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the relationship between chromospheric and coronal activity based on H-alpha equivalent width and X-ray luminosity measurements.
• Studying stellar age-activity trends based on derived tangential velocities and H-alpha emission.
• Investigating the 'saturation-type' activity relation across spectral types, including the fully convective transition around M3.5.
• Characterizing a young stellar population based on coronal emission levels and tangential velocity thresholds mentioned in the description.

Strengths

• Contains data for 1080 nearby active M dwarfs, a substantial sample size.
• Includes multiple derived physical parameters: spectral types, distances, H-alpha equivalent widths, X-ray luminosities, and tangential velocities.
• Nearly half of the stars lie within 50 parsecs, providing a focused sample of the solar neighborhood.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data was created in March 2010 based on a reference paper; freshness should be verified for current research.

Provenance

Source

NASA HEASARC, based on a corrected electronic version of Table 1 from a reference paper in the Astronomical Journal.

Collection Method

Stars selected by correlating 2MASS and ROSAT catalogs with specific color cuts and a matching radius of 20 arcseconds.

Time Range

Study published circa 2010; temporal coverage of the underlying observations is not specified.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 17:49:21.025345; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Stars are in the solar neighborhood, selected at galactic latitudes greater than 15 degrees above or below the Galactic Plane.