| Term: | M dwarf stars |
| Definition: |
A star whose spectrum is dominated by the absorption bands of titanium oxide (TiO) and vanadium oxide (VO) and has many neutral metal lines. The effective temperature of M dwarfs ranges from about 3850 to 2600 K. They are low mass stars with masses ranging from 0.6 times that of the Sun at spectral type M0 to less than 0.1 solar masses. M dwarfs are very abundant, they account for about 70-80% of stars in the Galactic disk. The nearest star to the Sun, Proxima Centauri, is an M dwarf. |