SIMBAD references

We present an all-sky catalogue of 2970 nearby (d ≲ 50 pc), bright (J < 9) M- or late K-type dwarf stars, 86 percent of which have been confirmed by spectroscopy. This catalogue will be useful for searches for Earth-size and possibly Earth-like planets by future space-based transit missions and ground-based infrared Doppler radial velocity surveys. Stars were selected from the SUPERBLINK proper motion catalogue according to absolute magnitudes, spectra, or a combination of reduced proper motions and photometric colours. From our spectra, we determined gravity-sensitive indices, and identified and removed 0.2 percent of these as interloping hotter or evolved stars. 13 percent of the stars exhibit Hα emission, an indication of stellar magnetic activity and possible youth. The mean metallicity is [Fe/H] = -0.07 with a standard deviation of 0.22 dex, similar to nearby solar-type stars. We determined stellar effective temperatures by least-squares fitting of spectra to model predictions calibrated by fits to stars with established bolometric temperatures, and estimated radii, luminosities, and masses using empirical relations. Six percent of stars with images from integral field spectra are resolved doubles. We inferred the planet population around M dwarfs using Kepler data and applied this to our catalogue to predict detections by future exoplanet surveys.