The School of Physics welcomes Todd Henry, professor of astronomy at Georgia State University, for "Grab Your Map to the Stars! A Tour of the Sun's Neighborhood"

Abstract:
Who are our neighbors? Since 1994, the Research Consortium On Nearby Stars (RECONS, www.recons.org) has been spying on the several hundred nearest stars, both old friends and new members of the neighborhood. During this talk I'll present the latest discoveries in our celestial neighborhood, including a comprehensive 2010 census of stars, brown dwarfs, and planets closer than 10 parsecs (about 33 light years). It turns out we've got many more small, red, neighbors than we knew, and some of them are orbited by planets. There are also other dark, hidden, companions that so far have eluded detection – just who are they?