Poster Abstracts

Name/Affiliation:  Cassy Davison (Georgia State University)

Title:  Rotational Velocities of Nearby Mid M-Dwarfs

Abstract:
We present rotational velocities for nearby mid M-dwarfs (M3.5V-M6.0V) obtained using CSHELL on NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility. These results are important as new spectrographs are now being designed and built with sufficient precision ( ~1-10 m/s) to find terrestrial planets in the habitable zone of slowly-rotating, inactive, single, nearby low mass stars (mid to late M-dwarfs). However, the multiplicity, activity and projected rotational velocities for the majority of these cool neighbors are not known, which severely limits the potential target list. This data set will provide a more complete assessment of the stellar properties of these stars within 25 pcs and establish a clean sample of slowly rotating, quiet single stars suitable for terrestrial planet searches.