Abstract We present a spectroscopic characterization of 580 K dwarfs within 33 pc, observed with the CHIRON echelle spectrograph ( R = 80,000) on the SMARTS 1.5 m telescope. This volume-limited sample is part of the RKSTAR survey of ∼4400 K dwarf primaries within 50 pc. Using Empirical SpecMatch and the diagnostic lines H α (6562.8 Å) and Li I (6707.8 Å), we derive stellar properties, activity status, and age indicators calibrated against 35 benchmark K dwarfs with ages from 20 Myr to 5 Gyr. We find that 7.4% (43 stars) exhibit signatures of youth and/or chromospheric activity: 19 stars show lithium absorption indicating ages 25 km s −1 in v sin i . A metal-poor population (Fe/H ≤ −0.50 dex) comprises 4% of the sample. Galactic kinematics place 80% in the thin disk and 18.4% in the thick disk, with one halo member (HD 134439). Young and active stars are predominantly thin disk members, with two thick-disk exceptions. Cross-matching with NASA’s Exoplanet Archive reveals only 7.5% (44 stars) host confirmed planets as of 2025 July. Our results identify 529 mature, inactive K dwarfs as prime targets for terrestrial planet searches, providing a crucial resource for exoplanet habitability studies in the solar neighborhood.
James et al. (Fri,) studied this question.