<p>Your best bet is probably a distance-limited catalog designed to include everything within a specific distance. The most recent such compilation I'm aware of is <a href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021A%26A...650A.201R/abstract" rel="noreferrer">Reylé et al. (2021)</a>, which has a limit of 10 pc and includes slightly more than 300 (hydrogen-burning) stars, along with about 20 white dwarfs and several dozen brown dwarfs.</p>
<p>They note that they are probably incomplete for very late/cool/faint brown dwarfs and also faint white dwarfs, but they seem pretty confident they have all the (hydrogen-burning) <em>stars</em>.</p>
<p>So the safe upper limit would be 10 pc.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-08T18:17:21.380Z
@BenCrowell The question asked about stars (not brown dwarfs) that "have been discovered", not "could potentially be discovered". So the 10 pc limit is appropriate, since that's a published volume that has been thoroughly searched.
Peter Erwin
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-07T22:01:15.293Z
2021-08-07T22:01:15.293Z
Peter Erwin
<p>For the purposes of this question, I wish to consider active, hydrogen-burning stars, not deuterium-burning brown dwarfs,  or stellar remnants like black holes or neutron stars. (Though including those would be interesting questions in and of themselves)</p>
<p>What is the upper limit of distance that we can say, &quot;To a high degree of certainty, every star that exists within this sphere centered on the Solar System, has been discovered?&quot;</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-08T21:16:39.053Z
The answer depends what you mean by "discovered". If you just mean - is present in some catalogue as a point source then likely around 100 pc. If you mean identified as a nearby star out to some limiting distance, then much closer.
ProfRob
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-10T13:22:10.113Z
@ProfRob By "discovered" I meant the latter: found, distance measured, and known to be inside the limiting sphere. Apologies if I was unclear.
notovny
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-11T07:14:55.563Z
The title of your question is confusing and misleading. You should say 'distance' instead of 'radius' there.
Thomas
<star><observational-astronomy><distances><star-maps>
Radius to which all hydrogen-burning stars are known?
notovny
# Radius to which all hydrogen-burning stars are known?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-08-07)

For the purposes of this question, I wish to consider active, hydrogen-burning stars, not deuterium-burning brown dwarfs, or stellar remnants like black holes or neutron stars. (Though including those would be interesting questions in and of themselves)

What is the upper limit of distance that we can say, "To a high degree of certainty, every star that exists within this sphere centered on the Solar System, has been discovered?"

**Tags:** star, observational-astronomy, distances, star-maps
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: The answer depends what you mean by "discovered". If you just mean - is present in some catalogue as a point source then likely around 100 pc. If you mean identified as a nearby star out to some limiting distance, then much closer.  
> **username_0**: @ProfRob By "discovered" I meant the latter: found, distance measured, and known to be inside the limiting sphere. Apologies if I was unclear.  
> **username_2**: The title of your question is confusing and misleading. You should say 'distance' instead of 'radius' there.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2021-08-07. Score: 12 | Accepted answer

Your best bet is probably a distance-limited catalog designed to include everything within a specific distance. The most recent such compilation I'm aware of is [Reylé et al. (2021)](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021A%26A...650A.201R/abstract), which has a limit of 10 pc and includes slightly more than 300 (hydrogen-burning) stars, along with about 20 white dwarfs and several dozen brown dwarfs.

They note that they are probably incomplete for very late/cool/faint brown dwarfs and also faint white dwarfs, but they seem pretty confident they have all the (hydrogen-burning) *stars*.

So the safe upper limit would be 10 pc.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: @BenCrowell The question asked about stars (not brown dwarfs) that "have been discovered", not "could potentially be discovered". So the 10 pc limit is appropriate, since that's a published volume that has been thoroughly searched.  

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