noaoann06034 — Announcement

Twenty New Stars in the Neighborhood

16 November 2006

Astronomers have identified 20 new stellar systems in our local solar neighborhood, including the twenty-third and twenty-fourth closest stars to the Sun. When added to eight other systems announced by this team and six by other groups since 2000, the known population of the Milky Way galaxy within 33 light-years (10 parsecs) of Earth has grown by 16 percent in just the past six years. Data taken with the SMARTS telescopes at CTIO. NOAO Press Release 06-14