The Washington Double Star Supplemental Catalog (WDSS) is a database intended
for large, faint duplicity surveys. This initial version only contains the
105,000-pair SDSS survey by Dhital et al. (2015 AJ 150, 57) and a handfull of
smaller Gaia surveys, with additional matches of some pairs against 2MASS and
other catalogs. However, it is expected to grow significantly as future data
releases from Gaia, PanStarrs, etc. lead to ever-larger-scale duplicity surveys.
The WDSS has shown significant and rapid growth since the mid 2017 initial release, primarily due to Gaia DR2 and DR3. The plots below indicate the number of measures and pairs compared with the WDS: it currently has 5x as many measures and 15x as many systems.
In the rightmost figure, the number of measures per system is indicated. As
shown the majority of systems have one or two measures, in most cases Gaia
measures. However, a not insignificant number of systems (more than in the whole
WDS!) have additional measure(s). This predominantly come from catalog matching
done at USNO (2MASS, UCAC4, URAT, etc.), but almost 25,000 measures come from
the work of Friedrich Damm, which we acknowledge here and for which we give our
thanks.
The WDSS is also meant to be a means of testing possible new formats for the
main WDS database, so the format of this catalog must be considered preliminary.
The increasing number of pairs in the WDS have occasionally exposed the
limitations of its current format. In particular, the WDS designation, based on
arcminute-precise coordinates, has insufficient precision to give unique
designations to pairs discovered in crowded fields. WDS summary lines also have
insufficient space for cross-reference names for the primary, and no space for
coordinates or other names for the secondary. Space is also limited for
component designations, magnitudes, spectral types, and proper motions.
The initial format for the WDSS attempts to address some of these shortcomings:
In order to accomodate this additional information, the summary line has been
split into two lines. (Note that this applies only to the plain-text version of
the database. An SQL-type database - not yet implemented - could of course
continue to use a single summary line per pair.) An example of the WDSS format
is given below. The layout is similar to that of the WDS (especially measurement
lines, which are virtually identical other than the WDS-vs-WDSS designation).
Detailed formats for both summary and measurements lines are given in the file
wdss_format.txt. The final three columns are at
present reserved for any systems or pairs found to be common to both the WDSS
and the WDS. (An entry of both WDS and discoverer designation indicates a match
to a WDS pair. An entry of just the WDS designation indicates the WDSS pair is
an additional component to the WDS pair). Eventually these columns will provide
a cross-reference between the new- and old-format WDS catalogs.
This format is by NO means "written in stone"! Suggestions for improvement
are welcome from all users of the USNO double star catalogs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- wdss.......... comp1.. frst nnn th1 rho1..* vmag1* kmag1* spec1 pm1............. par1... name1................... ** coords1........... wds....... dd.....comp. wdss.......... comp2.. last th2 rho2..* vmag2* kmag2* spec2 pm2............. par2... name2................... coords2........... wdss.......... comps... date...... *the.... dthe.. *rho...... *dsep... *mag1..*dmag. *mag2..*dmag. filt....* tel..* nn ref..... te ... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0000496+364648 A 1991 1 234 15.51 8.35 6.18k G5 -24.59 -22.27 6.82 TYC 2271 00911 1 V 000049.66+364648.0 00008+3647 ES 221 0000496+364648 B 1991 234 15.51 10.31 8.82k -25.77 -23.14 7.09 TYC 2271 01988 1 000048.62+364638.9 0000496+364648 AB 1991.61 234.3 . 15.51 . 8.354 0.013 10.308 0.044 530 100 0.3 1 TYC2000b Ht 0000496+364648 AB 1991.61 . . . . 9.303 0.019 11.144 0.061 430 90 0.3 1 TYC2000b Ht 0000496+364648 AB 2015.0 . . 15.38 . . . . . 673 440 0.7 1 Gai2017 Hg 0003431-075506 A 2009 1 61 9.67 21.21g 15.21 M2 . . . SLW 0003-0755 V 000343.16-075506.1 0003431-075506 B 2009 61 9.67 21.48g 15.83 M2 . . . 2MASS J00034378-0755014 000343.74-075501.5 0003431-075506 AB 2009.7897 61. . 9.67 . 22.374 0.457 22.927 0.731 355 120 2.5 1 Dhi2015 Es 0003431-075506 AB 2009.7897 . . . . 21.206 0.048 21.480 0.061 477 280 2.5 1 Dhi2015 Es 0003431-075506 AB 2009.7897 . . . . 19.865 0.024 20.040 0.027 623 280 2.5 1 Dhi2015 Es 0003431-075506 AB 2009.7897 . . . . 18.648 0.013 18.829 0.014 762 300 2.5 1 Dhi2015 Es 0003431-075506 AB 2009.7897 . . . . 18.092 0.028 18.207 0.031 913 240 2.5 1 Dhi2015 Es 0003431-075506 A 2009 1 92 10.08 21.21g 15.21 M2 . . . SLW 0003-0755 V 000343.16-075506.1 0003431-075506 C 2009 92 10.08 21.52g 15.56 M2 . . . 2MASS J00034383-0755065 000343.84-075506.4 0003431-075506 AC 2009.7897 92. . 10.08 . 22.374 0.457 26.031 0.908 355 120 2.5 1 Dhi2015 Es 0003431-075506 AC 2009.7897 . . . . 21.206 0.048 21.521 0.063 477 280 2.5 1 Dhi2015 Es 0003431-075506 AC 2009.7897 . . . . 19.865 0.024 19.862 0.024 623 280 2.5 1 Dhi2015 Es 0003431-075506 AC 2009.7897 . . . . 18.648 0.013 18.667 0.013 762 300 2.5 1 Dhi2015 Es 0003431-075506 AC 2009.7897 . . . . 18.092 0.028 18.106 0.028 913 240 2.5 1 Dhi2015 Es 0003431-075506 B 2009 1 163 5.16 21.48g 15.83 M2 . . . 2MASS J00034378-0755014 000343.74-075501.5 0003431-075506 C 2009 163 5.16 21.52g 15.56 M2 . . . 2MASS J00034383-0755065 000343.84-075506.4 0003431-075506 BC 2009.7897 163. . 5.16 . 22.927 0.731 26.031 0.908 355 120 2.5 1 Dhi2015 Es 0003431-075506 BC 2009.7897 . . . . 21.480 0.061 21.521 0.063 477 280 2.5 1 Dhi2015 Es 0003431-075506 BC 2009.7897 . . . . 20.040 0.027 19.862 0.024 623 280 2.5 1 Dhi2015 Es 0003431-075506 BC 2009.7897 . . . . 18.829 0.014 18.667 0.013 762 300 2.5 1 Dhi2015 Es 0003431-075506 BC 2009.7897 . . . . 18.207 0.031 18.106 0.028 913 240 2.5 1 Dhi2015 Es 1018560-331253 A 1991 2 319 2.47 9.76 8.71k F7V -82.92 -5.83 5.83 TYC 7187 01148 1 V 101856.03-331253.9 10189-3313 I 207AB 1018560-331253 B 2015 319 2.51 9.97 . -84.36 -4.89 5.68 TYC 7187 01148 2 101855.90-331252.0 1018560-331253 AB 1991.67 319.1 0.7 2.473 0.032 10.342 0.026 10.569 0.033 430 90 0.3 1 TYC2000b Ht 1018560-331253 AB 1991.67 . . . . 9.763 0.021 9.967 0.026 530 100 0.3 1 TYC2000b Ht 1018560-331253 AB 2015.0 . . 2.52 . 9.564 . 9.756 . 673 440 0.7 0 Oh_2017 Hg 1018560-331253 AB 2015.0 318.952 0.007 2.50725 0.00031 9.564 . 9.756 . 673 440 0.7 1 Gai2016 Hg 1018560-331253 AB 2015.0 . . 2.51 . . . . . 673 440 0.7 0 Gai2017 Hg 1018560-331253 A 1991 2 341 98.75M 9.76 8.71k F7V -82.92 -5.83 5.83 TYC 7187 01148 1 V 101856.03-331253.9 10189-3313 1018560-331253 D 2015 341 98.75M 11.67 10.36j -88.14 -5.63 5.94 TYC 7183 00703 1 101625.20-313924.9 1018560-331253 AD 1991.72 341.2 0.0 M 98.750 0.001 10.342 0.026 12.477 0.131 430 90 0.3 1 TYC2000b Ht 1018560-331253 AD 1991.72 . . . . 9.763 0.021 11.667 0.086 530 100 0.3 1 TYC2000b Ht 1018560-331253 AD 2015.0 . . M 98.751 . 9.564 . 11.474 . 673 440 0.7 0 Oh_2017 Hg 1018560-331253 AD 2015.0 341.229 0.000 M 98.75141 0.00001 9.564 . 11.474 . 673 440 0.7 1 Gai2016 Hg 1018560-331253 B 1991 2 341 98.71M 9.97 . -84.36 -4.89 5.68 TYC 7187 01148 2 V 101855.90-331252.0 10189-3313 1018560-331253 D 2015 341 98.71M 11.67 10.36j -88.14 -5.63 5.94 TYC 7183 00703 1 101625.20-313924.9 1018560-331253 BD 1991.72 341.2 0.0 M 98.711 0.001 10.569 0.033 12.477 0.131 430 90 0.3 1 TYC2000b Ht 1018560-331253 BD 1991.72 . . . . 9.967 0.026 11.667 0.086 530 100 0.3 1 TYC2000b Ht 1018560-331253 BD 2015.0 . . M 98.712 . 9.756 . 11.474 . 673 440 0.7 0 Oh_2017 Hg 1018560-331253 BD 2015.0 341.239 0.000 M 98.71269 0.00001 9.756 . 11.474 . 673 440 0.7 1 Gai2016 Hg
The database is presently divided into 4 six-hour RA bands (wdss1.dat, ...
wdss4.dat). It will undoubtedly have to be further divided into smaller bands
(as in the WDS) as it grows in size. A summary file (wdss_summ.txt) is also
available.
A note regarding clusters: The paper by Oh et al. (AJ 153, 2570, 2017)
included many very wide pairs in systems having similar proper motion and
parallax. These systems are comprised of as many as 151 components, so may more
correctly be considered as moving groups rather than multiple stars. We have
adopted criteria distinguishing between "clusters" (i.e., clusters,
associations, or moving groups) and multiple systems, based on the number of
components in the largest known physical multiples and the separations of the
widest known physical binaries. If a group consists of 8 or more members and has
a mean separation greater than 20,000 au, we consider it a "cluster" and its
component pairs are not included in the Supplement.