AST 95-30831 P.I. Phillip Ianna Fundamental Properties of Nearby Northern and Southern Stars. The characteristics of stars populating our galaxy are broadly inferred from the observational properties of nearby stars. This is the sample we might expect to be known most completely, and to have the best observational data. In fact many of the nearest stars lack measurements of the most basic kind, such as colors, spectral types, or especially, distances. A stellar parallax is the most fundamental piece of information needed for calibrating the luminosities of a wide variety of stars and so providing the foundation for setting up the distance scale for objects beyond the nearby sample. Dr. Ianna will continue to direct a program to determine the distances to selected nearby star candidates by the trigonometric parallax method emphasizing CCD observations from the southern hemisphere.
