Poster Abstracts

Name/Affiliation:  Joshua E. Schlieder (Max Planck Institute for Astronomy)

Title:  The CASTOFFS Survey: High-Resolution Optical Spectroscopy of Bright Southern Targets

Abstract:
The census of young stars near the Sun is incomplete, particularly at low-masses. Many constituents of the known sample are members of nearby, young moving groups (NYMGs); loose associations of coeval stars with common Galactic kinematics. By mining astrometric and photometric catalogs, new candidates of the under-sampled young, low-mass star population can be found via their association with NYMGs. We have therefore developed the Cool Astrometrically Selected Targets Optimal For Follow-up Spectroscopy (CASTOFFS) survey to identify and characterize previously unrecognized young, low-mass stars. We combine astrometry, photometry, and activity to identify candidates and use dedicated spectroscopic follow-up to verify their youth and NYMG kinematics. We are now 2 years into CASTOFFS and present results from spectroscopic follow-up of 85 southern hemisphere targets with V<=14. Our results reveal many high probability members of NYMGs, isolated young field stars, and new wide, visual, and spectroscopic binaries. We also briefly detail statistics from the survey so far and provide a future outlook.