The motions and distribution of dwarf M stars

. The proper motions of 825 dwarf M stars discovered spectrophotometrically at the Leander McCormick Observatory are analyzed. After the motion of each star has been reduced to 10 parsecs, a solution for solar motion yields A = 273?5, D = +41?6, Vo = 19.7 km/sec. The distributions of the peculiar motions in three directions are presented graphically in Figure 1. Pronounced asym- metry in the velocity components in the direction of galactic rotation is noticeable at values considerably smaller than 63 km/sec. A projection of the positions of the stars on the galactic plane is given. It appears that the stars are evenly distributed in space. A luminosity function has been derived from this material which indicates pronounced deviations from van Rhijn's general luminosity function between absolute visual magnitudes 7.75 and 8.75.