Since the discoveries of archetypes of nearby, young moving groups (NYMGs) in the late 1990s, more than 10 NYMGs have been identified within #100pc, with #10,000 claimed members in total. Members of these NYMGs are the youngest (#200 Myr) available stars near Earth (#100 pc). Due to their youth and proximity, these stars serve as prime targets for a wide range of star/planet-related studies. For instance, NYMGs and their members are excellent laboratories for: (1) Direct imaging detection of exoplanets and their disk environments, (2) Studying the star formation history in the solar neighborhood, and (3) Understanding the time-dependent astrophysics of pre-main-sequence (pre-MS) and adolescent main sequence stars. Extensive information for the #10,000 claimed NYMG members exists in the literature, ranging from mere suggestions of potential kinematic members to detailed characterization of fully confirmed members. Non-experts often feel overwhelmed when attempting to utilize the potential of NYMGs due to the large volume of available data scattered across various research resources such as papers, online databases, and tools. A central archive dedicated to NYMGs would be an essential asset for the astronomy community, maximizing the scientific power of NYMGs. Such a database for NYMGs and stellar clusters, called MOCADB, has recently become available to the astronomy community. Using information available from the MOCADB complemented by our data collection for more specific data, we will demonstrate the potential of NYMGs by addressing three scientific questions: (1) the evolution of stellar flares during the first 200 Myr, (2) the origin of NYMGs and their dissipation to the field star population, and (3) the early evolution of energetic phenomena (coronae, chromospheres) around low-mass NYMG members.
Funder: NASA
Amount: $470,416
PI: Inseok Song, Franklin College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Physics and Astronomy