We present an all-sky catalog of 2970 nearby ( d \lesssim 50 pc ) , bright ( J < 9 ) M- or late K-type dwarf stars , 86 % of which have been confirmed by spectroscopy .
This catalog 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 catalog according to absolute magnitudes , spectra , or a combination of reduced proper motions and photometric colors .
From our spectra we determined gravity-sensitive indices , and identified and removed 0.2 % of these as interloping hotter or evolved stars .
Thirteen percent of the stars exhibit H { \alpha } 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 catalog to predict detections by future exoplanet surveys .