Information Circulars: 1997

INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION COMMISSION 26 (DOUBLE STARS)
INFORMATION CIRCULAR No. 131 (FEBRUARY 1997) NEW ORBITS ADS Name P (yr) T e W(2000) 1997 Author RA 2000 DEC n (deg) a (") i (deg) w (deg) Last ob. 1998 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 416 BU 394 142.14 1992.37 0.847 102.1 258.6 0.14 ZULEVIC 00308 N 4732 2.5327 0.689 78.0 2.0 1991.902 263.6 0.19 2459 AC 2 282.42 2138.23 0.270 72.8 252.8 1.24 POPOVIC & 03183 S 0056 1.2747 0.978 64.8 0.0 1992.95 253.1 0.24 ZIVKOV 4038 McA 19 Aa 38.41 1985.82 0.203 88.7 249.7 0.07 OLEVIC & 05271 N 1758 9.3716 0.119 101.8 114.0 1991.902 242.9 0.06 JOVANOVIC 6862 I 489 147.21 2021.86 0.378 103.4 318.5 0.26 ZULEVIC 08315 S 1934 2.4454 0.428 115.9 226.7 1993.197 315.9 0.27 -- COU 292 23.76 2005.26 0.54 60.0 18.1 0.17 COUTEAU 10269 N 1931 15.1515 0.155 130.0 214.0 1996.347 10.9 0.16 16957 AGC 14 630.15 2247.71 0.112 172.6 264.9 0.87 POPOVIC & 23440 N 2882 0.5713 1.614 60.6 241.3 1996.849 265.9 0.87 PAVLOVIC -- SLR 14 118.80 1977.67 0.275 39.9 110.6 0.68 DOCOBO & 23506 S 5142 3.0303 0.813 154.5 197.9 1996.85 107.0 0.70 LING -- FIN 359 22.81 1989.05 0.412 31.3 110.1 0.08 DOCOBO & 23529 S 0313 15.7826 0.079 138.8 124.6 1995.923 99.8 0.08 LING -- FIN 359 22.55 1988.85 0.387 36.8 109.0 0.08 OLEVIC & 23529 S 0313 15.9619 0.081 134.0 127.4 1994.703 98.1 0.08 JOVANOVIC =================================================================================== NEW DOUBLE STAR Discovered by: D. Dinescu, E. Horch, T. Girard, W. Van Altena (Yale University Observatory, USA), C. Lopez (Felix Aguilar Observatory, Argentina) and O. Franz (Lowell Observatory, USA) using optical speckle interferometry. STAR HR Delta m Sp Coord. 2000 1990+ theta rho YSJ 1 4143 2 +/- 1 -- 103256.9 S 470012 5.1025 99.2 0.420 =================================================================================== PAPERS PUBLISHED IN 1996 1) ANOSOVA, et al.: "Triple star systems as producers of high velocity stars in the galaxy". Astrophys. Space Science 236, 293 (1996). 2) AL-SHUKRI, A. M.: "ICCD Speckle obserations of binary stars XII. Measurements during 1984-1986 from the Perkins 1,8 m. telescope". Astron. J. 111(1), 408 (1996). 3) CARQUILLAT, J. M.; GINESTET, N.: "Contribution to the study of F G K M binaries VII. HD 147395 a M giant spectroscopic binary". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 117, 445 (1996). 4) TEN BRUMMELAAR, T. A. et al: "Differential binary star photometry using adaptative optics system at starfire optical range". Astron. J. 112(3), 1180 (1996). 5) HARTKOPF, W. I. et al: "Binary star orbits from speckle interferometry. VIII Orbits of 37 close visual systems". Astron. J. 111(1), 370 (1996). 6) HARTKOPF, W. I. et al: "ICCD speckle observations of binary stars. XIII Measurements during 1989-1994 form the Cerro Tololo 4 m telescope". Astron. J. 111(2), 936 (1996). 7) HEINTZ, W. D.: " Observations of double stars and new pairs. XVII". Astrophys. J. Suppl Ser. 105, 475 (1996). 8) HEINTZ, W. D.: "A study of multiple-star systems". Astron. J. 111(1), 408 (1996). 9) HEINTZ, W. D.: "Orbits of visual binaries". Astron. J. 111(1), 412 (1996). 10) HORCH E. P. et al: "Speckle interferometry of southern double stars I. First results of the Yale - San Juan speckle interferometry program". Astron. J. 111(4), 1681 (1996). 11) JASINTA, D.M.D.: "Provisional orbits for three visual binaries". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 118, 381 (1996) 12) KISELEV, A. A.; ROMANENKO, L. G.: "Dynamical studies of nine wide visual binaries in the solar neighborhood". Astron. Reports 40(6), 795 (1996). 13) McALISTER, H. A. et al: "ICCD Speckle observations of binary stars. XIV A brief survey for duplicity among white dwarf stars". Astron. J. 112(3), 1169 (1996). 14) MASON, B. D. et al: "Binary stars orbits from speckle interferometry IX. The nearby solar-type speckle-spectroscopic binary Fin 347 Aa". Astron. J. 112(1), 276 (1996). 15) MASON, B. D.: "ICCD Speckle observations of binary stars. XV An investigation of Lunar occultation systems". Astron. J. 112(5), 2260 (1996). 16) SINACHOPOULOS, D.; VAN DESSEL, E. L.: "VRI photometry of wide double stars V. Double Stars with mainly K- and M- type primaries". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 119, 483 (1996). 17) THOREL, J. C.: "Measures and discoveries of visual double stars made with the 50 cm refractor at the NIce Observatory". Astron. Astrophys. 115, 59 (1996). =================================================================================== The deadline for contributions to Information Circular No. 132 is: June 15th 1997 J. A. Docobo (oadoco@usc.es) J. F. Ling (oafana@usc.es) Fax: (81) 59 70 54 Observatorio Astronomico "R. M. Aller" P. O. Box 197 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela SPAIN

INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION COMMISSION 26 (DOUBLE STARS)
INFORMATION CIRCULAR No. 132 (JUNE 1997) NEW ORBITS ADS Name P (yr) T e W(2000) 1997 Author RA 2000 DEC n (deg) a (") i (deg) w (deg) Last ob. 1998 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 805 BU 302 449.8 2040.00 0.374 62.7 178.8 0.40 POPOVIC & 00583 N 2124 0.8003 0.550 21.5 185.2 1991.896 180.2 0.40 PAVLOVIC 805 BU 302 481.19 2123.28 0.015 94.0 177.6 0.43 ZULEVIC 00583 N 2124 0.7482 0.710 52.7 182.4 1991.896 178.8 0.43 832 A 926 750.2 2640.8 0.453 55.8 331.7 0.41 POPOVIC & 01011 N 6022 0.4799 0.548 33.5 171.0 1988.661 332.3 0.41 PAVLOVIC 12033 HU 940 111.59 1939.79 0.784 31.7 198.9 0.54 DOCOBO 19055 N 3352 3.2553 0.316 129.2 18.5 1996.698 198.5 0.54 & LING =================================================================================== The deadline for contributions to Information Circular No. 133 is: October 15th 1997 J. A. Docobo (oadoco@usc.es) J. F. Ling (oafana@usc.es) Fax: (81) 59 70 54 Observatorio Astronomico "R. M. Aller" P. O. Box 197 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela SPAIN

INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION COMMISSION 26 (DOUBLE STARS)
INFORMATION CIRCULAR No. 133 (OCTOBER 1997) NEW ORBITS ADS Name P (yr) T e W(2000) 1997 Author RA 2000 DEC n (deg) a (") i (deg) w (deg) Last ob. 1998 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 48 STT 547AB 374.24 2072.33 0.551 20.8 181.0 6.039 OLEVIC & 00057 N 4549 0.9620 6.634 64.6 273.2 1994.796 181.4 6.036 JOVANOVIC 6526 A 1580 152.39 2028.81 0.786 114.4 274.0 0.276 OLEVIC & 08017 S 0836 2.3624 0.482 80.4 268.7 1991.9052 274.7 0.279 JOVANOVIC 10374 BU 118 87.60 1936.88 0.954 39.2 244.8 0.53 DOCOBO 17103 S 1544 4.1096 1.519 94.9 274.5 1996.69 243.9 0.54 & LING -- FIN 328 18.721 1977.01 0.841 49.2 183.8 0.249 OLEVIC & 21044 S 1951 19.2296 0.392 119.4 96.1 1992.4498 172.5 0.277 JOVANOVIC 16157 A 2099 232.63 1917.63 0.437 168.8 161.3 0.67 DOCOBO 22401 N 0112 1.5475 0.568 75.7 178.2 1997.679 161.6 0.68 & LING =================================================================================== THE VARIABILITY OF COU 14 V.S.Tamazian, J.A.Docobo and N.D. Melikian report an integral brightness variation of visual double star COU 14 = WDS 21501N1717 by 0.3mag. in standard V passband registered during recent photometric observations performed at Byurakan Observatory, (Armenia) in July-September, 1997. Probably, the secondary component is T Tau type variable with an amplitude of more than 3mag. More details in IBVS No.4515 are given. These observations confirm the variability suggested by P.Couteau. =================================================================================== REPORT Commission 26, Division IV Double and Multiple Stars President: H. Zinnecker Vice-President: C. Scarfe Organizing Committee: C. Allen J. Armstrong W. Hartkopf R. Mathieu A. Tokovinin M. Valtonen C. Worley (ex-officio) New members: R. Hindsley (USA) C. Prieto (Spain) C. Hummel (Germany) G. Torres (USA) D. Jassur (Iran) S. Soederhjelm (Sweden) E. Martin (Spain) J. Wang (China,PR) R. Mathieu (USA) Consultant: B. Mason (USA) Necrology: I regret to inform you of the deaths of the follwing members: P. Baize A. Shul'berg W. Luyten P. van de Kamp A business meeting of the Commission was held at Kyoto on Aug. 22, 1997. As expected, attendance was small (9 members). Results of the mail ballot resulted in the election to office of those names starred above. As is customary, the former Vice-President, Dr. Zinnecker, succeeds to the Presidency. There was a brief discussion of the future direction the Commission might take, and there was general agreement that this would undoubtedly involve the combination of the classical astrometry and spectroscopy of binary stars with rapidly growing and much more accurate modern techniques. Also, it was emphasized that a true understanding of the mechanisms of star formation cannot be attained without accounting for the large number of binary and multiple stars extant. Two important meetings concerning binary and multiple stars occurred in 1995 (Calgary, Canada) and 1996 (Santiago de Compostela, Spain). Dr. Zinnecker tentatively proposed a future Symposium about the year 2000 on general topics of interest. Worley reported on the present status of the Washington Visual Double Star Catalog and the Orbit Catalog, as well as the progress of the speckle program and the Navy Prototype Optical Interferometer. Charles E. Worley President 1994-97 =================================================================================== NEW DOUBLE STAR Par m(pg) RA sa DEC sd mua smua mud smua N ep mem (0.001s) (0"001) (mas/yr) (mas/yr) (1950.+) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1052 14.40 053255.592 2 -054348.99 1 27.0 0.7 17.3 0.4 9 -7.4 0 1058 14.40 053256.838 2 -054405.78 2 26.8 0.8 16.9 0.5 10 -3.5 0 Par: Parenago (1954) number RA, Dec: epoch 1950, equinox 2000, positions in Hipparcos reference system. sa, sd: accuracies on RA, Dec. mua, mud: Proper motion, transformed to PPM system (mu-a cos d, mu-d) smua, smud: errors on proper motions N: number of plates used ep: mean epoch of plates used. mem: membership probability In a recent study of proper motions in the Orion cluster region we discovered what seems to be a new double star (a proper motion pair), with a separation of 25" and minimal differences in the proper motions. The positions are in the Hipparcos reference frame. The little information I have on the (very similar) colours of these stars indicate early K-type dwarfs, at an estimated distance of 120 to 200 pc. The data given above come from K. P. Tian, F. van Leeuwen, J. L. Zhao and C. G. Su. Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 118, 503 (1996). Floor van Leeuwen Royal Greenwich Observatory Cambridge U.K. =================================================================================== The deadline for contributions to Information Circular No. 134 is: February 15th 1998 J. A. Docobo (oadoco@usc.es) J. F. Ling (oafana@usc.es) Fax: (81) 59 70 54 Observatorio Astronomico "R. M. Aller" P. O. Box 197 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela SPAIN

INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION COMMISSION 26 (DOUBLE STARS)
INFORMATION CIRCULAR No. 134 (FEBRUARY 1998) NEW ORBITS ADS Name P (yr) T e W(2000) 1998 Author RA 2000 DEC n (deg) a (") i (deg) w (deg) Last ob. 1999 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 48 STT 547AB 374.24 2072.33 0.551 20.8 181.0 6.039 OLEVIC & 00057+4549 0.9620 6.634 64.6 273.2 1994.796 181.4 6.036 JOVANOVIC 6549 STT 187 235.0 1937.0 0.71 219.0 346.9 0.38 MASON & 08041+3302 1.53 0.349 132.9 86.0 1994.1523 346.3 0.38 HARTKOPF 7341 A 2477 600.0 1914.5 0.546 248.3 347.6 0.43 MASON & 09245+1808 0.60 0.726 49.6 341.0 1995.28 348.5 0.44 HARTKOPF -- FIN 47 7.54 1983.2 0.36 224.0 236.4 0.05 MASON & 11053-2718 47.74 0.142 98.0 328.0 1996.1783 218.0 0.09 HARTKOPF 8446 STF 1606 744.0 1993.24 0.693 125.2 185.5 0.31 MASON & 12108+3953 0.484 1.267 136.4 275.1 1997.39 181.3 0.31 HARTKOPF 8862 HU 644 48.91 1968.55 0.229 91.09 121.1 0.28 MASON & 13198+4747 7.360 1.507 94.45 73.55 1997.41 110.1 0.42 HARTKOPF 8987 BU 612 22.46 1929.84 0.56 37.0 73.3 0.09 MASON & 13395+1046 16.02 0.200 42.6 357.0 1997.1263 119.6 0.10 HARTKOPF -- COU 1757 61.2 1998.7 0.49 10.1 273.6 0.07 MANTE 14260+4213 5.8824 0.247 58.2 280.3 1992.408 309.0 0.07 9617 STF 1937 41.591 1933.884 0.2759 203.3 53.5 0.87 MASON & 15232+3017 8.6557 0.871 57.6 38.5 1997.2684 58.3 0.81 HARTKOPF -- COU 982 180.0 1990.1 0.438 78.8 78.2 0.24 MANTE 16216+3631 2.0 0.398 31.6 316.8 1993.501 82.2 0.25 -- COU 321 71.02 1997.27 0.408 138.1 307.7 0.08 DOCOBO 19180+2012 5.0690 0.165 102.8 209.9 1995.7620 302.1 0.06 & LING 16800 BU 1266 48.4 1910.0 0.43 249.0 36.7 0.17 MASON & 23304+3050 7.44 0.189 142.0 335.0 1996.8628 30.0 0.16 HARTKOPF 16886 A 1493 119.0 2014.7 0.170 44.3 331.8 0.13 DOCOBO 23382+5514 3.0252 0.155 158.0 141.3 1995.9153 328.0 0.13 & LING =================================================================================== CHARLES EDMUND WORLEY, 1935-1997 Charles Worley, 62, Astronomer at the U.S. Naval Observatory, died unexpectedly on Dec. 31,1997, after a short illness. He was born on May 22, 1935, in Iowa City, Iowa, and grew up in Des Moines where his father was a doctor. He became interested in astronomy at age nine. His first observational work as an amateur astronomer was plotting and recording of more than 10,000 meteors for the American Meteor Society. Continuing his love for astronomy he attended Swarthmore College where he took part in the parallax program. He also met the other love of his life, his wife, Jane. He obtained a B.A. in mathematics from San Jose State College in 1959. He worked for the Lick Observatory in California (1959-1961) as a research astronomer under a Naval Research grant to observe double stars. Since arriving at the U.S. Naval Observatory in 1961, he was the motive force behind an extensive program of double star observation (being, himself, a prolific observer having the second largest number of double star measurements ever achieved by one person), instrumental innovation, and double star cataloging. He quickly gained recognition as one of the world's leading experts in the field of double star astronomy. In 1965 Charles arranged for the database of double star data, the Index Catalogue of Visual Double Stars (IDS), to be transferred from the Lick Observatory to the USNO. This database has become a truly comprehensive resource under his guidance, and is formally recognized as the international source of double star data by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). He updated the database on a continuing basis adding 290,400 observational records to the original 179,000 and increasing the original 64,000 systems by an additional 17,100 through careful literature searches and extensive communication with other double star observers throughout the world. During the past three years he extended the scope and utility of the database, now known as the Washington Double Star Catalog (WDS) by adding accurate photometric data, improved spectral types, and identification information. The project was completed in 1996, and the revised WDS is available on the world wide web. Most recently he oversaw the addition of 15,000 Hipparcos Catalog double stars into the WDS. Requests for information from the WDS database arrive daily from astronomers all over the world. In collaboration with William Finsen and later Wulff Heintz, Charles produced two Catalogs of Orbits of Visual Binary Stars, the most recent published in 1983. At the time of his death he was preparing what would have been a new version. In recent years an accurate knowledge of double and multiple star separations, position angles, and orbital motions has become increasingly important to astronomy. It is now realized that not only must double stars be identified and calibrated in order to produce the best astrometric catalogs of stellar positions, but also the varying centers of emission at different wavelength bands must be taken into account to meet modern high-precision astrometric needs. For Charles's contribution to this aspect of astrometry, he received the 1994 U.S. Naval Observatory Simon Newcomb Award for Scientific Research Achievement. In 1991 he was elected as vice-president of Commission 26 of the IAU (Multiple & Double Stars) and became president of that commission at the IAU General Assembly in 1994. He was a member of IAU Commission 5, the American Astronomical Society, including the AAS Historical Astronomy Division, and the Royal Astronomical Society. He was also an active supporter of the amateur community, and published a series of articles in Sky and Telescope and produced the double star section of the "Observer's Handbook". During his career Charles made over 40,000 measures of double and multiple stars using the USNO filar micrometer on telescopes in the northern and southern hemispheres. In 1990 he obtained a speckle interferometer in order to improve the accuracy of double star measurements. During the past seven years he oversaw improvements in both instrumentation and software implementation that resulted in making the USNO the world's second largest producer of double star observations using a speckle interferometer. Under Charles's direction more than 9,200 observations were made with the speckle interferometer on 1,100 systems down to separations of one-fifth of an arcsecond, the theoretical limit of the 26-inch refractor. Recently the speckle interferometer has been used to observe Hipparcos problem stars on the McDonald 2.1-m Otto Struve telescope. His special interest in nearby stars led to the discovery of 39 new, cool stellar companions. These companions which are faint and difficult to observe provide critical census information on the solar neighborhood. From 1954 to 1997 he published some 75 professional papers primarily on double star astronomy and gave numerous invited presentations at meetings. He was known for exacting standards and high quality best typified by his paper challenging all other double star observers; ``Is This Orbit Really Necessary?" We are reminded of a favorite quote of Charles' from Paul Couteau's book ``Observing Visual Double Stars": ``Do not forget that an astronomer who observes perfect images visually is a wild beast who devours his prey. Do not disturb him under any pretext. Let nature take its course". Charles will be sorely missed by his many friends and colleagues. Geoffrey G. DOUGLASS Thomas E. CORBIN Brian D. MASON U. S. Naval Observatory =================================================================================== ANNOUNCEMENT We are at present considering changes to the format of the Washington Double Star Catalog. Some suggestions thus far have been minor (e.g., increasing the number of digits in the 2000 coordinate for greater accuracy). However, it is possible that other changes are needed. We encourage all users of the WDS to look at its current structure and to please make suggestions either on the web Comment form, via email or postal mail (addresses below). As the official double star database of the IAU ICRS working group, we are endeavoring to make certain that all double star measurements are included in the database. A complete list of all references included thus far is available at . If possible, please check to see that all of your references are included. If you find any omissions, they can be enumerated on the web Comment form, via email or postal mail. In this task, we are also asking double star observers in the future to send via email the tabular data in ASCII format of double star measures after or at the time of publication. Brian Mason bdm@draco.usno.navy.mil Astrometry Dept., US Naval Observatory 3450 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC 20392-5420 USA =================================================================================== PAPERS PUBLISHED IN 1997 PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP VISUAL DOUBLE STARS: FORMATION, DYNAMICS AND EVOLUTIONARY TRACKS. Docobo, J. A., Elipe, A. and McAlister, H. A. (editors). Kluwer Academic Publishers. ASSL 223, (1997) 1. ARISTIDI, E. et al.: "Imaging binary stars by the cross-correlation technique", Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 125, 139 (1997) 2. ARISTIDI, E. et al.: "ICCD speckle observations of binary stars: Measurements during 1994-1995", Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 126, 555 (1997) 3. BALEGA, I. I. et al: "Speckle interferometry of the sppectroscopic binaries Gliese 150.2 and 41 Draconis", Astron. Letters 23 (2), 172 (1997). 4. DOUGLASS, G. G., HINDSLEY, R. B. & WORLEY, C. E.: "Speckle Interferometry at U.S. Naval Observatory. I", Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 111, 289 (1997). 5. FEKEL, F. C. et al.: "New and improved parameters of HD 202908 = ADS 14839: A spectroscopic-visual triple system", Astron. J. 111 (3), 1095 (1997). 6. GIES, D. R. et al: "The O-Type binary 15 Monocerotis nears periastron", Astrophys. J. 475, L49 (1997). 7. HARTKOPF, W. I. et al: "ICCD Speckle observations of binary stars XVII. Measurements during 1993-1995 from the Mount Wilson 2.5-M Telescope", Astron. J. 114 (4), 1639 (1997). 8. HEINTZ, W.D.: "Orbits of 40 visual binaries", Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 111, 335 (1997). 9. HOLMGREN, D. et al.: "Search for forced oscillations in binaries II. Beta Scorpii. A new physical parameters and a search for line profile variability", Astron. Astrophys. 322, 565 (1997). 10. HORCH, E. P. et al: "CCD Speckle observations of binary stars from the southern hemisphere", Astron. J. 114 (5), 2117 (1997). 11. HSIEH-HAI, F. et al: "ICCD Speckle observations of binary stars XVI. Measurements during 1982-1989 from Perkins 1.8-M Telescope", Astron. J. 114 (4), 1623 (1997). 12. INNANEN, K. A. et al.: "The Kozai mechanism and the stability of planetary orbits in binary star systems", Astron. J. 113 (5), 1915 (1997). 13. LINDEGREN, L. et al.: "Double star data in Hipparcos Catalogue", Astron. Astrophys. 323, L53 (1997). 14. LING, J. F. & PRIETO, C.: "Micrometer measurements of visual double stars made atn the Cote D'Azur Observatory", Astron, Nach. 318 (6), 365, (1997). 15. MARTIN, C. et al.: "Mass determination of astrometric binaries with Hipparcos I. Theory and simulation", Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 122, 571 (1997) 16. MASON, B. D.: "Binary star orbits from speckle interferometry. IX. Orbits of twelve lunar occultations systems", Astron. J. 114 (2), 808 (1997). 17. MASON, B. D. et al.: "Binary star orbits from speckle interferometry. X. Speckle-spectroscopic orbits of HR 233, 36 Tau and 73 Leo", Astron. J. 114 (4), 1607 (1997). 18. MASON, B. D. et al.: "ICCD Speckle observations of binary stars XVIII. An investigation of Be stars", Astron. J. 114 (5), 2112 (1997). 19. MAYER, P.: "The three-body system V505 Sagittarii", Astron. Astrophys. 324, 988 (1997). 20. MULLER, P.: "Double star measurements made at Nice", Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 126, 273 (1997) 21. NAKOS, T., SINACHOPOULOS, D. & VAN DESSEL, E.: "UBV absolute CCD photometry and differential astrometry of close visual double stars, with G-type primaries", Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 123, 353 (1997) 22. POPOVIC, G. M. & PAVLOVIC, R.: "CCD measurements of double and multiple stars in Belgrade", Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 123, 487 (1997) 23. POPOVIC, G. M. & PAVLOVIC, R.: "Micrometer measurements of double stars (Series 50)", Bull. Astron. Belgrade 155, 97 (1997) 24. PRIETO, C.: "Micrometer measurements of southern double stars made at the Observatory of Llano del Hato at Merida (Venezuela)", Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 121, 405 (1997) 25. PRIETO, C. & DOCOBO, J. A.: "Analythic solution of the two-body problem with slowly decreasing mass", Astron. Astrophys. 318, 657 (1997). 26. RICHICHI, A. et al.: "New binary stars discovered by lunar occultations III", Astron. Astrophys. 322, 202 (1997). 27. SCHOLZ, G. et al.: "A spectroscopic study of the binary star Gamma Gem", Astron. Astrophys. 320, 791 (1997) 28. STRAND, K. A. & KALLARAKAL, V. V.: "Photovisual magnitude differences for 169 double stars", Astron. J. 113 (5), 1884 (1997). 29. TOKOVININ, A. A.: "On the multiplicity of spectroscipic binary stars", Astron. Letters 23 (6), 727 (1997). 30. TOKOVININ, A. A.: "Orbits of new spectroscopic components in 7 multiple systems", Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 121, 71 (1997) 31. TOKOVININ, A. A.: "MSC - a catalogue of physical multiple stars", Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 124, 75 (1997) 32. TORRES, G., STEFANIK, R. P. & LATHAN, D. W.: "The Hyades binary Finsen 342 (70 Tauri): A double-lined spectroscopic orbit, the distance to the cluster, and the mass-luminosity relation", Astrophys. J. 479, 268 (1997). 33. TORRES, G., STEFANIK, R. P. & LATHAN, D. W.: "The Hyades binaries Theta 1 Tauri and Theta 2 Tauri: The distance to to the cluster, and the mass-luminosity relation", Astrophys. J. 485, 167 (1997). 34. VALTONEN, M. J.: "Mass ratios in wide binary stars", Astrophys. J. 485, 785 (1997). 35. WORLEY, C. E. & DOUGLASS G. G.: "The Washington double star catalog (WDS 1996.0)", Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 125, 523 (1997) =================================================================================== The deadline for contributions to Information Circular No. 135 is: June 15th 1998 J. A. Docobo (oadoco@usc.es) J. F. Ling (oafana@usc.es) Fax: (81) 59 70 54 Observatorio Astronomico "R. M. Aller" P. O. Box 197 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela SPAIN

INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION COMMISSION 26 (DOUBLE STARS)
INFORMATION CIRCULAR No. 135 (JUNE 1998) NEW ORBITS ADS Name P (yr) T e W(2000) 1998 Author RA 2000 DEC n (deg) a (") i (deg) w (deg) Last ob. 1999 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 674 A 921 146.58 2003.38 0.582 160.5 190.2 0.092 OLEVIC & 00491+5720 2.4561 0.213 56.7 90.6 1991.9043 196.8 0.081 JOVANOVIC I 263 1100. 1939.9 0.773 223.9 262.9 0.535 MASON & 01220-6943 0.3273 2.043 71.7 317.2 1991.713 263.9 0.532 HARTKOPF 2849 A 1831 234.70 1978.57 0.258 84.0 217.4 0.142 OLEVIC & 03545+0511 1.5339 0.208 39.6 76.4 1991.9047 219.8 0.145 JOVANOVIC 2965 MCA 13 Aa 19.19 1984.23 0.140 156.3 3.6 0.040 OLEVIC & 04044+2406 18.7630 0.041 137.9 261.8 1990.7551 349.1 0.041 JOVANOVIC 3370 HU 442 248.15 1988.71 0.129 177.9 108.4 0.148 PAVLOVIC 04400+2301 1.4507 0.454 69.3 259.9 1991.902 113.0 0.153 & ZIVKOV 3608 A 1844 25.14 1949.69 0.325 105.7 146.0 0.190 MASON & 05017+2640 14.3198 0.260 20.7 96.2 1996.8662 172.7 0.171 HARTKOPF 3799 STT 517 AB 530. 1924.8 0.887 87.0 238.6 0.602 MASON & 05134+0158 0.6792 0.527 14.9 354.0 1997.1224 238.8 0.607 HARTKOPF 4265 BU 1007 114.88 1941.25 0.869 48.4 242.7 0.297 DOCOBO 05413+1632 3.1337 0.316 81.8 61.1 1991.9050 243.0 0.294 & LING 6138 A 2869 113.28 1995.62 0.819 104.5 137.5 0.067 OLEVIC & 07305+0743 3.1780 0.260 127.3 226.0 1993.2050 125.5 0.093 JOVANOVIC 6291 STF 1130 1000. 1981.1 0.811 328.6 15.7 0.379 MASON & 07417+0942 0.3600 1.858 52.3 346.1 1995.9271 18.7 0.381 HARTKOPF I 879 38.71 1935.53 0.788 290.7 139.1 0.371 MASON & 11210-5429 9.2999 0.259 54.8 35.0 1997.1177 140.8 0.357 HARTKOPF WOR 24 21.18 1986.02 0.637 104.3 19.9 0.384 DOCOBO 13320+3109 16.9972 0.272 150.7 258.3 1997.391 14.0 0.374 & BALEGA HWE 28 AB 292.11 1957.55 0.686 111.5 309.5 0.958 LING & 13535-3540 1.2324 1.329 71.8 93.5 1997.115 310.1 0.959 PRIETO RST 4529 22.99 1993.57 0.506 14.7 250.7 0.186 DOCOBO & 14310-0548 15.6590 0.244 49.9 119.4 1997.394 265.1 0.193 TAMAZIAN 9380 STF 1879 253.5 1866.0 0.699 251.2 86.5 1.686 MASON & 14463+0940 1.4229 1.111 117.7 327.8 1997.47 86.3 1.690 HARTKOPF 9397 A 2983 9.98 1988.059 0.491 142.3 302.0 0.061 BALEGA & 14493+1014 36.0722 0.127 45.8 156.8 1997.394 18.1 0.072 VASYUK HJ 4707 346.0 1933.9 0.390 60.7 286.4 0.821 MASON & 14542-6625 1.0405 1.577 113.8 359.4 1997.1180 285.0 0.841 HARTKOPF 9453 BU 239 429.19 2217.25 0.337 126.6 359.5 0.527 LING & 14587-2739 0.8388 0.836 66.9 75.5 1998.137 0.2 0.523 PRIETO COU 985 27.17 1993.65 0.772 175.7 32.4 0.173 DOCOBO 16384+3514 13.2499 0.185 50.1 82.2 1997.391 38.1 0.185 & LING 10990 BU 1125 AB 264.38 2070.67 0.264 7.1 122.9 0.561 POPOVIC 18018+0118 1.3617 0.797 53.3 232.5 1998.402 124.5 0.563 & ZIVKOV 11073 HU 1290 294.94 1985.03 0.257 110.5 348.0 0.206 ZIVKOV & 18054+6216 1.2206 0.475 120.4 80.6 1998.402 344.9 0.212 PAVLOVIC 13649 BU 984 286.58 2080.01 0.088 44.0 267.5 0.380 PAVLOVIC 20176+2622 1.2562 0.800 70.2 3.0 1994.80 269.4 0.370 & POPOVIC COU 1962 23.65 1979.14 0.340 111.7 307.6 0.142 DOCOBO 20311+3333 15.2220 0.188 73.0 336.4 1994.791 318.2 0.098 & LING 14333 J 194 143.40 1957.50 0.188 27.9 173.5 0.617 DOCOBO 20494+1124 2.5105 0.792 121.0 111.6 1994.86 171.4 0.606 & LING 17052 A 2700 30.16 1990.48 0.314 37.7 257.0 0.180 DOCOBO 23517-0637 11.9363 0.180 145.2 11.4 1995.85 248.4 0.194 & LING 17052 A 2700 30.00 1960.35 0.305 24.0 257.8 0.171 MASON & 23517-0637 12.0000 0.173 149.8 357.8 1995.85 248.5 0.184 HARTKOPF =================================================================================== NEW DOUBLE STAR Discovered by: Rade Pavlovic with Refractor Zeiss 65/1055 cm at Belgrade STAR Mgn Sp Coord. 2000 1990+ theta rho -------------------------------------------------------------------------- PAV 2 10.0 - 11.2 -- 17 18 36.6 N 32 28 17 7.502 302.8 3.50 =================================================================================== NOTE Paper by GILI, R. & COUTEAU, P. : "Measurements of double stars made at Nice Observatory with the 74 and 50 cm refractors". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 126, 1 (1997) was missed in PAPERS PUBLISHED IN 1997 (Information Circular No. 134). =================================================================================== The deadline for contributions to Information Circular No. 136 is: October 15th 1998 J. A. Docobo (oadoco@usc.es) J. F. Ling (oafana@usc.es) Fax: (81) 59 70 54 Observatorio Astronomico "R. M. Aller" P. O. Box 197 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela SPAIN

INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION COMMISSION 26 (DOUBLE STARS)
INFORMATION CIRCULAR No. 136 (OCTOBER 1998) NEW ORBITS ADS Name P (yr) T e W(2000) 1998 Author RA 2000 DEC n (deg) a (") i (deg) w (deg) Last ob. 1999 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RST 4188 466.03 2395.22 0.782 113.3 23.2 0.493 OLEVIC 01528-0447 0.7725 0.662 47.5 124.0 1995.91 23.6 0.497 JOVANOVIC 3007 A 998 158.24 2010.16 0.692 170.8 218.8 0.129 PAVLOVIC 04089+4614 2.2750 0.281 123.8 46.9 1989.813 214.4 0.127 3228 BU 1186 410.67 1948.17 0.210 170.2 75.7 0.143 POPOVIC & 04275+1113 0.8766 0.773 102.2 27.3 1995.921 70.5 0.145 PAVLOVIC 4002 McA 18 Aab,c 19.24 1979.08 0.047 126.5 118.7 0.049 OLEVIC & 05244-0224 18.7138 0.059 103.7 36.5 1995.932 110.5 0.037 JOVANOVIC\ CHARA 26 14.18 1984.40 0.237 14.4 100.4 0.032 OLEVIC & 07269+2015 25.3939 0.061 46.6 111.4 1995.9215 154.4 0.039 JOVANOVIC COU 1757 49.70 2000.80 0.536 13.3 240.6 0.090 MANTE 14260+4213 7.2435 0.192 46.1 304.5 1996.415 265.4 0.071 9532 B 2351 Aa 23.47 1994.57 0.245 179.0 117.2 0.107 MASON & 15123-1947 15.3387 0.131 152.5 345.6 1997.1322 98.3 0.112 HARTKOPF COU 612 56.00 1971.07 0.405 164.4 207.8 0.252 DOCOBO 15390+2545 6.4286 0.212 137.7 131.2 1996.342 204.8 0.257 & LING COU 1291 49.62 2011.71 0.302 122.2 288.0 0.174 DOCOBO 17075+3810 7.2551 0.169 61.2 282.4 1996.415 291.1 0.175 & LING KUI 83 23.99 1961.21 0.205 334.5 124.1 0.343 MASON & 17370+2743 15.0063 0.288 164.2 23.2 1997.7198 114.0 0.337 HARTKOPF CHARA 63 19.15 1999.73 0.008 63.2 230.5 0.082 OLEVIC & 17375+2419 18.8005 0.092 115.2 241.0 1995.1673 218.7 0.068 JOVANOVIC 11023 STF 2275 525.46 2012.87 0.477 131.6 283.1 0.153 POPOVIC 18033+3921 0.6851 0.679 78.0 142.8 1992.323 285.4 0.162 12746 HU 953 300.84 2009.73 0.449 8.5 287.7 0.254 ZIVKOV & 19389+3514 1.1967 0.736 54.7 314.7 1995.62 292.9 0.255 POPOVIC FIN 328 28.24 2002.70 0.392 152.0 37.2 0.241 MASON & 21044-1951 12.7479 0.266 161.5 219.3 1996.5377 22.3 0.219 HARTKOPF =================================================================================== NOTES CONCERNING THE PREVIOUS CIRCULAR 1. Regarding to Olevic & Jovanovic's orbit for McA 13 Aa, there is an earlier orbit based on speckle and radial velocity data of Mason et al. (A. J. 1997, 114, 1607). Olevic & Jovanovic's orbit is no improvement and was included in I. C. No. 135 by printing error. 2. Dr. B. Mason notes that the double star announced by Dr. R. Pavlovic may be the known double star L 15, the coordinates, magnitudes and relative position are all very similar. 3. The orbit calculated by Olevic & Jovanovic for ADS 2849 (03545+0511) corresponds to the pair BC. =================================================================================== IN MEMORIAM, DR. D. J. ZULEVIC (1937 - 1998) Danilo J. Zulevic, Astronomer at Belgrade Observatory died unexpectedly on July 14, 1998. He made over 4000 measures of double stars using filar micromerer at Zeiss Refractor 65/1055cm of Belgrade Observatory. In IAU Comm. 26 Information Circular's (No 50 - 132) he published 58 orbits by 53 binary stars and the duplicity of the star BD +33 3323. G.M. Popovic =================================================================================== ANNOUNCEMENT The United States Naval Observatory (USNO) maintains the Washington Double Star Catalog (WDS) which is the world's principal database of astrometric double and multiple star data. The WDS Catalog contains positions (J2000), discoverer designations, epochs, position angles, separations, magnitudes, spectral types, proper motions, and, when available, Durchmusterung numbers and Notes for the components of more than 81,000 systems based on more than 480,000 means. In the past only the most recent (1996.0) published version (http://aries.usno.navy.mil/wds/wds.html : A&AS, 125, 523; 1997) was available. We are now making available on the web (http://aries.usno.navy.mil/wds/wdsnew.html) our working version of the WDS. This contains the most recent observational data available and includes systems newly discovered by the Hipparcos satellite. While Hipparcos did not provide discovery designations these are the primary system identifier in visual double star astronomy. A cross reference file of these 3406 systems containing the abbreviated coordinate, as well as the HDS and HIP numbers is provided. A cross reference of WDS entries which had Hipparcos problem solutions (i.e., the G, X, O, V double star solutions as well as those which were suspected non-single) is also available. Also, new to the WDS is an additional indicator in columns 100-102. This ``D'' note code indicates the system has a separate Delta-M determined (in addition to those determined during astrometric measures). These results, primarily from Charles Worley's Delta-m catalog plus other lunar occultation and interferometric determinations will eventually be incorporated in a weighted scheme for the magnitude listings of the WDS data line. Addition of the Delta-m information as well as other more significant changes to the WDS database is currently under consideration. The input from regular users of the database and other interested parties is greatly appreciated in our efforts to make the WDS as helpful and user-friendly as possible. Please provide comments on the format of the WDS, missed references, or any other items of interest to you on our Comment form. Information is being added to the database on a continuing basis, and this edition of the WDS will also be updated regularly. In addition to the WDS Hipparcos problem star cross reference we will also be adding a preliminary version of the 5th Orbit Catalog to this site soon. You may request a reasonable amount of information from the double star catalog by e-mail. While our turn around on email requests is less than 24 hours, it is our hope to eventually add cgi scripts so the user may get data immediately. If you have any comments or questions we would be grateful to receive them via email (bdm@draco.usno.navy.mil), postal mail (Brian D. Mason, Astrometry Department, U. S. Naval Observatory, 3450 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20392-5420), or via our web comment form (http://aries.usno.navy.mil/wds/wds_comment.html). Brian Mason bdm@draco.usno.navy.mil Astrometry Dept., US Naval Observatory 3450 Massachusetts Ave., NW Washington, DC 20392-5420 USA =================================================================================== The deadline for contributions to Information Circular No. 137 is: February 15th 1999 J. A. Docobo (oadoco@usc.es) J. F. Ling (oafana@usc.es) Fax: (81) 59 70 54 Observatorio Astronomico "R. M. Aller" P. O. Box 197 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela SPAIN ISSN: 1024-7769

INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION COMMISSION 26 (DOUBLE STARS)
INFORMATION CIRCULAR No. 137 (FEBRUARY 1999) NEW ORBITS ADS Name P (yr) T e W(2000) 1999 Author RA 2000 DEC n (deg) a (") i (deg) w (deg) Last ob. 2000 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1227 A 1913 AB 275.5 2088.9 0.188 117.2 135.4 0.295 MANTE 01345+3440 1.3067 0.33 111.2 94.3 1991.25 134.8 0.297 -- KUI 39 73.17 2020.48 0.463 63.5 138.3 0.569 MANTE 09175+7715 4.9198 0.592 137.8 67.7 1991.25 134.8 0.562 -- COU 2416 61.68 1992.74 0.446 81.7 41.0 0.165 MANTE 20151+3742 5.8366 0.283 52.7 221.2 1993.663 49.2 0.189 13611 A 2095 AB 105.51 1916.57 0.890 138.4 151.7 0.233 LING 20157+4339 3.4120 0.454 94.9 94.6 1997.68 151.2 0.236 -- COU 537 45.43 1993.67 0.578 63.4 264.1 0.145 DOCOBO 22077+2622 7.9243 0.180 39.5 94.9 1995.607 271.2 0.156 & LING 15707 STT 464 1360.20 1985.74 0.557 51.9 171.6 0.265 LING & 22113+4010 0.2647 0.900 52.8 94.3 1995.79 173.1 0.268 PRIETO =================================================================================== ANNOUNCEMENT The CATALOGUE DE 2700 ETOILES DOUBLES COU is now available. This is the third updated edition of COU double stars catalogue, revised and including trigonometric parallaxes, astrometric and photometric parameters measured by Hipparcos satellite for 800 COU stars. It can be obtained upon request from: Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur P. O. Box 4229 06304 Nice Cedex, France The price is 400 FFr P. Couteau =================================================================================== PAPERS PUBLISHED IN 1998 1) ABAD, C., DOCOBO, J. A. & DELLA PRUGNA F.: "CCD and micrometric observations of visual double stars". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 133, 71-79 (1998) 2) ALZNER, A.: "Measurements of double stars 1993.67 - 1998.13". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 132, 237-252 (1998) 3) ALZNER, A.: "Orbital elements of 9 visual double stars". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 132, 253-254 (1998) 4) ANGELOV, T.: "On the distribution of visual double stars". Serbian Astronomical Journal, 157, 31-34 (1998) 5) BARLOW, D. J., SCARFE, C. D. & FEKEL, F. C.: "Physical properties of the binary star 12 Persei." Astron. J. 115, (6), 2555-2560 (1998) 6) BENEST, D: "Planetary orbits in the elliptic restricted problem. IV. The ADS 12033 system". Astron. Astrophys. 332, 1147-1152 (1998) 7) CARBILLET, M. et al.: "Speckle imaging of binary stars: Use of ratios of twofold probability density functions". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 127, 569-580 (1998) 8) DOCOBO, J. A.: "Micrometer measurements of double stars from the Spanish observatories at Calar Alto and Santiago de Compostela". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 130, 117 (1998) 9) DOCOBO, J. A. et al.: "Photometric and polarimetric observations of double and multiple stars". Astrofizika 41, 389-398 (1998) 10) FERNANDES, J. et al.: "Fundamental stellar parameters for nearby visual binary stars: $\eta$ Cas, $\xi$ Boo, 70 Oph and 85 Peg". Astron. Astrophys. 338, 455-464 (1998). 11) FRANZ, O. G. et al. : "The first definitive binary orbit determined with the Hubble Space Telescope fine guidance sensors: WOLF 1062 (Gliese 748)" Astron. J. 116, (3), 1432-1439 (1998) 12) HEINTZ, W.D.: "Observations of double stars. XVIII". Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 117, 587-598 (1998). 13) HERSHEY, J. L. & TAFF, L. G. : "Hubble Space Telescope fine guidance sensor astrometry of the low-mass binary L722-22." Astron. J. 116, (3), 1440-1446 (1998) 14) HUMMEL, C. A. et al. : "Navy prototipe optical interferometer observations of the double stars Mizar A and Matar." Astron. J. 116, (5), 2536-2548 (1998) 15) IZMAILOV, I. S. et al.: "Using a CCD camera in Pulkovo programs of observations of binary and multiple stars and satellites of major planets with the 26-inch refractor". Astron. Letters 24 (5), 665-672 (1998). 16) KIYAEVA, O. V., TOKOVININ, A. A. & KALINICHENKO, O. A.: "The triple system ADS 9167". Astron. Letters 24 (6), 753-757 (1998). 17) LING, J. A. & PRIETO, C: "Micrometer measusrements of southern double stars made at the national Observatory of Llano del Hato, Venezuela". Rev. Mexicana Astron. Astrof. 34, 111-115 (1998) 18) MALKOV, O., PISKUNOV, A. & ZINNECKER, H.: "On the luminosity ratio of pre-main sequence binaries". Astron. Astrophys. 338, 452-454 (1998). 19) MARTIN, C. & MIGNARD, F.: "Mass determination of astrometric binaries with Hipparcos. II Selection of candidates and results". Astron. Astrophys. 330, 585-599 (1998) 20) MARTIN, C. et al. : "Mass determination of astrometric binaries with Hipparcos. III New results for 28 systems". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 133, 149-162 (1998) 21) MASON, B. D. et al.: "ICCD Speckle Observations of Binary Stars XIX. An Astrometric/Spectroscopic Survey of O Stars." Astron. J. 115, (2), 821-847 (1998). 22) MASON, B. D. et al.: "A multiplicity survey of chromospherical active and inactive stars." Astron. J. 116, (6), 2965-2974 (1998). 23) OLEVIC, D. & JOVANOVIC, P.: "New and recalculated orbital elements of 5 double stars". Serbian Astronomical Journal 158, 73-79 (1998) 24) PETR, M. G. et al. : "Binary stars in the Orion trapezium cluster" Astrophys. J. 500, 825-837 (1998) 25) POPOVIC, G. M.: "Inclination of the Orbital Planes of Visual Binaries". Serbian Astronomical Journal, 157, 13-17 (1998) 26) POPOVIC G. M., PAVLOVIC, R. & ZIVKOV, V.: "Catalogue of Double Star Observations made at the Belgrade Observatory - CDSO". Publ. Astron. Obs. Belgrade, 60, 114-117 (1998) 27) POPOVIC, G. M. & PAVLOVIC, R.: "Micrometer and CCD measurements of double stars (Series 51).", Serbian Astronomical Journal, 158, 67-71 (1998) 28) POURBAIX, D.: "Simultaneous least-squares adjustement of visual and spectroscopic observations of binary stars". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 131, 377-382 (1998) 29) SCHOELLER, M. et al.: "Diffraction-limited speckle masking interferometry of binary stars with the SAO 6-m telescope". Astron. Letters 24 (3), 283-287 (1998). 30) SHATSKII, N. I.: "The nature of visual components in 82 multiple systems". Astron. Letters 24 (2), 257-269 (1998). 31) SHATSKII, N. I. & TOKOVININ, A. A.: "A test of Hipparcos parallaxes on multiple stars". Astron. Letters 24 (5), 673-676 (1998). 32) SINACHOPOULOS, D & VAN DESSEL, E.: "CCD astrometry and UBV photometry of visual binaries. II. Visual double stars with mainly G-type primaries and relatively small angular separation". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 130, 229-304 (1998) 33) THOREL J.-C.: "Measures of visual double stars made with the 50 cm refractor at the Nice Observatory (2nd series)". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 132, 29-30 (1998) 34) TOKOVININ, A. A.: "On the distrubution of orbital eccentricities of wide visual binary stars". Astron. Letters 24 (2), 178-179 (1998). 35) TOKOVININ, A. A.: "New spectroscopic components in six multiple systems". Astron. Letters 24 (3), 288-295 (1998). 36) TOKOVININ, A. A., SHATSKII, N. I. & MAGNITSKII, A. K.: "ADS 9731: A new sextuple system". Astron. Letters 24 (6), 795-801 (1998). 37) VALTONEN, M. J.: "Mass ratios in multiple star systems". Astron. Astrophys. 334, 169-172 (1998) 38) WORLEY, C. E. & MASON, B. D. : "Micrometer measures of double stars." Astron. J. 116, (2), 971-930 (1998) =================================================================================== The deadline for contributions to Information Circular No. 138 is: June 15th 1999 J. A. Docobo (oadoco@usc.es) J. F. Ling (oafana@usc.es) Fax: (81) 59 70 54 Observatorio Astronomico "R. M. Aller" P. O. Box 197 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela SPAIN ISSN: 1024-7769

INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION COMMISSION 26 (DOUBLE STARS)
INFORMATION CIRCULAR No. 138 (JUNE 1999) NEW ORBITS ADS Name P (yr) T e W(2000) 1999 Author RA 2000 DEC n (deg) a (") i (deg) w (deg) Last ob. 2000 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1081 FIN 337 BC 27.78 1994.00 0.163 258.8 269.1 0.111 MASON & 01198-0029 12.9573 0.117 21.9 288.0 1994.7085 281.8 0.114 HARTKOPF -- DAW 31 AB 4.56 1932.59 0.301 57.4 297.5 0.218 MASON & 01350-2955 78.8868 0.178 21.8 51.3 1991.7129 354.1 0.176 HARTKOPF -- COU 750 40.00 2002.46 0.778 27.4 198.9 0.163 DOCOBO 01450+2703 9.0000 0.298 81.9 263.2 1995.9155 201.7 0.153 & LING 4299 A 494 AB 20.15 1959.04 0.399 98.2 335.5 0.046 MASON & 05428-0649 17.8691 0.206 71.7 273.4 1997.8271 72.4 0.078 HARTKOPF -- COU 1241 26.30 1993.10 0.563 89.7 63.9 0.174 MANTE 06598+3141 13.6867 0.181 120.2 263.9 1991.169 57.8 0.174 -- FIN 326 18.29 1965.74 0.466 174.5 345.4 0.121 MASON & 09442-2746 19.6879 0.123 123.0 316.0 1996.1810 332.4 0.090 HARTKOPF 7785 A 1993 142.61 2009.78 0.655 177.3 162.6 0.271 LING 10288+4558 2.5244 0.423 49.6 80.8 1997.31 165.7 0.260 9557 STF 3091 AB 148.00 2032.16 0.820 222.8 227.1 0.580 MASON & 15161-0454 2.4324 0.708 93.1 104.9 1997.537 227.0 0.581 HARTKOPF 9918 FIN 384 Aa 9.91 1990.13 0.025 119.9 153.9 0.055 MASON & 16057-0617 36.346 0.065 132.5 354.6 1996.1842 124.5 0.064 HARTKOPF 10385 HU 169 98.80 1891.82 0.464 209.4 242.3 0.130 MASON & 17115-1629 3.6438 0.241 122.2 232.6 1996.5289 237.0 0.144 HARTKOPF 10561 A 2244 44.96 1925.68 0.621 184.4 123.0 0.254 MASON & 17283-2058 8.0071 0.172 17.8 102.9 1990.3414 125.7 0.250 HARTKOPF 11643 B 405 87.95 1967.62 0.559 336.5 159.6 0.501 MASON & 18463-2721 4.0933 0.343 135.3 14.0 1991.25 158.5 0.506 HARTKOPF -- KUI 89 85.52 1993.11 0.486 51.8 72.1 0.142 MASON & 18594-1250 4.2094 0.224 34.7 315.0 1996.7011 79.4 0.147 HARTKOPF -- COU 1462 22.81 1993.89 0.672 38.0 51.7 0.182 MANTE 19089+3404 15.7798 0.314 83.2 275.3 1995.4397 56.4 0.156 -- FIN 327 5.72 1984.29 0.710 259.0 76.8 0.111 MASON & 19253-2431 62.9712 0.069 97.3 10.7 1992.4551 73.9 0.079 HARTKOPF 16672 MCA 74 Aa 6.29 1980.87 0.175 156.9 326.8 0.164 MASON & 23191-1327 57.2765 0.189 46.0 223.1 1995.7625 33.4 0.119 HARTKOPF -- COU 439 64.79 2021.76 0.312 12.0 259.4 0.150 DOCOBO 23199+2844 5.5564 0.195 53.6 45.3 1995.7706 264.9 0.145 & LING 16700 HU 95 257.20 1943.31 0.560 65.9 303.4 0.506 MASON & 23218-1217 1.3997 0.500 144.8 339.4 1991.25 302.5 0.512 HARTKOPF -- RST 4136 AB 54.83 1955.05 0.066 194.9 355.4 0.126 MASON & 23586-1408 6.5662 0.191 106.9 309.3 1996.5405 350.4 0.110 HARTKOPF ===================================================================================== NEW DOUBLE STAR Discovered by: P. Couteau with 76 cm refractor at Nice Observatory (This star was discovered observing COU 554) STAR Oxford Mgn Coord. 2000 1990+ theta rho ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COU 2702 +29 6496 10.0 - 12.2 02 52.7 + 29 14 9.06 276. 0.65 ===================================================================================== ANNOUNCEMENT A proposed Joint Discussion (JD) for the next IAU General Assembly is in the planning stages. The goal of the JD is to develop a designation scheme for stellar companions which addresses all techniques, and all stellar companions, both stellar and sub-stellar. This could have implications for the designation of binary stars. The home page for this proposed JD can be found at http://aries.usno.navy.mil/wds/iaujd.html . As the representative of Commission 26 on the SOC I am soliciting opinions of all interested double star astronomers. Please send them via email or postal mail to the address below. Brian D. Mason phone: 202-762-1412 Astrometry Department fax: 202-762-1516 U. S. Naval Observatory email: bdm@draco.usno.navy.mil 3450 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington DC 20392-5420 USA New WDS web page: http://aries.usno.navy.mil/wds/wdsnew.html =================================================================================== The deadline for contributions to Information Circular No. 139 is: October 15th 1999 J. A. Docobo (oadoco@usc.es) J. F. Ling (oafana@usc.es) Fax: (81) 59 70 54 Observatorio Astronomico "R. M. Aller" P. O. Box 197 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela SPAIN ISSN: 1024-7769

INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION COMMISSION 26 (DOUBLE STARS)
INFORMATION CIRCULAR No. 139 (OCTOBER 1999) NEW ORBITS ADS Name P (yr) T e W(2000) 1999 Author RA 2000 DEC n (deg) a (") i (deg) w (deg) Last ob. 2000 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 281 BU 1015 125.41 1961.64 0.522 302.7 96.0 0.421 SEYMOUR & 00206+1219 2.8707 0.325 29.5 359.2 1996.6510 97.2 0.426 HARTKOPF 732 A 2307 57.67 1956.32 0.515 218.4 59.3 0.189 SEYMOUR & 00533+0405 6.2429 0.228 72.5 15.1 1995.9316 61.8 0.171 HARTKOPF 1077 A 313 131.16 2018.40 0.160 168.8 349.1 0.252 SEYMOUR 01196-0520 2.7448 0.273 130.1 249.2 1997.0300 347.1 0.250 & MASON 3465 A 2621 310.47 1699.04 0.372 90.0 101.4 0.134 SEYMOUR & 04496+0212 1.1595 0.212 45.8 44.2 1993.0924 103.3 0.133 HARTKOPF 3596 STT 93 1467.52 1914.22 0.649 241.3 245.1 1.348 SEYMOUR 05005+0506 0.2453 2.530 99.7 249.3 1997.1541 245.0 1.362 & MASON 4115 STF 728 613.69 2297.03 0.221 217.1 46.1 1.161 SEYMOUR & 05308+0557 0.5866 1.604 96.6 302.5 1998.0900 46.0 1.172 HARTKOPF 5949 A 2855 65.68 1958.26 0.200 52.6 236.4 0.406 SEYMOUR 07168+0059 5.4814 0.350 144.3 325.2 1991.8970 233.1 0.403 & MASON 6347 HO 247 350.80 1892.44 0.291 117.2 246.3 0.454 SEYMOUR & 07461+2107 1.0262 0.561 52.9 339.8 1995.9216 247.2 0.459 HARTKOPF COU 966 90.43 2036.13 0.304 63.6 42.5 0.161 MANTE 12316+3201 3.9811 0.126 172.4 183.0 1997.268 40.2 0.160 9220 A 1102 393.07 1931.22 0.531 252.4 93.0 0.458 SEYMOUR 14179+6914 0.9159 0.458 138.6 29.3 1994.4500 92.4 0.452 & MASON COU 1289 15.99 2001.05 0.832 58.2 57.9 0.080 DOCOBO 16584+3943 22.5141 0.076 116.4 149.1 1996.4320 50.2 0.050 & LING COU 1289 37.63 2024.43 0.183 74.2 240.0 0.088 DOCOBO 16584+3943 9.5668 0.137 99.9 102.3 1996.4320 235.3 0.073 & LING COU 1785 34.83 1997.67 0.413 51.7 240.7 0.052 DOCOBO 18035+4032 10.3359 0.130 82.4 195.0 1995.6115 254.5 0.029 & LING 12540 McA 55 Aa 96.84 2010.27 0.719 98.8 131.2 0.375 HARTKOPF 19307+2758 3.7174 0.586 118.0 77.2 1997.4603 128.2 0.369 CHR 87 69.04 1996.73 0.212 183.1 86.3 0.076 HARTKOPF 19336+3846 5.2144 0.157 52.4 247.4 1997.4602 99.3 0.077 13961 SEE 512 88.39 1960.25 0.104 127.8 271.4 0.092 SEYMOUR 20325-1637 4.0729 0.277 100.6 94.2 1996.5320 263.4 0.079 & MASON CHR 114 85.25 1991.31 0.252 255.5 223.1 0.123 HARTKOPF 22383+4511 4.2228 0.162 35.9 269.0 1996.5321 228.7 0.128 16708 HU 295 64.62 1941.29 0.140 276.3 259.1 0.219 SEYMOUR & 23227-1502 5.5709 0.408 77.6 354.6 1997.8292 262.7 0.248 HARTKOPF ===================================================================================== SPECKLE CAMERA FOR THE ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY ``RAMON MARIA ALLER" A speckle camera for wide range of astronomical applications (binary star measurements, in particular) was developed for the Astronomical Observatory ``R. M. Aller" of the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) and constructed in cooperation with Special Astrophysical Observatory (Russia). It was successfully tested in Cassegrain focus of the Observatorio Astronomico Nacional 1.52m telescope at Calar Alto (Spain) during a recent observational run in September, 1999. With the microscope objective magnification 20x the scale at the detector plane was 0.013 arcsec per pixel. A wheel of interference filters is used in the camera for bandpass selection while a set of prisms compensates the atmospheric dispersion. The detector used is a 3-stage electrostatically focused image intensifier with a 20 mm multialcali photocathode. It is optically coupled with SensiCam CCD camera manufactured by PCO Computer Optics GmbH, Germany. Up to 5 frames per second (512x512 pix. digitized at 12 bits) can be stored on the hard disk(s) and copied later to an Exabyte Mammoth-LTVDe tape drive. The camera is completely remote controlled. The speckle masking image reconstruction procedure will be used to measure relative position of the components in binary system as well as estimate their brightness difference. First observations of about 100 binaries using the classical speckle technique were performed, and the diffraction limited resolution of 0.08 arcsec at 600 nm was achieved under moderate seeing conditions for all observed pairs. Stars of 10th magnitude were easily observed during the observing run and we expect those of 12th magnitude can be measured at that telescope under better seeing conditions. J. A. Docobo, V.Tamazian, P.Abelleira, J.Blanco, V. Lanchares Observatorio Astronomico ``R.M.Aller" P.O. Box 197, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, SPAIN (e-mail: oadoco@usc.es) Yu.Balega, A.Maximov, V.Vasyuk Special Astrophysical Observatory Zelenchuk, 357147, RUSSIA (e-mail: balega@sao.ru) ===================================================================================== MICROMETER MEASUREMENTS OF VISUAL DOUBLE STARS In the following Table, 46 measurements of 17 visual binary stars performed with 74 cm (N) and 50 cm (n) refractors at the Cote d'Azur Observatory (France) in June, 1991 are given. For each star the first measurement has been carried out by J. A. Docobo, the second one by J. F. Ling and the third, if any, by V. Lanchares. J. A. Docobo and J. F. Ling Observatorio Astronomico ``R. M. Aller" Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, SPAIN V. Lanchares Universidad de La Rioja. Logrono. Spain Table WDS Name ADS 1991. theta rho No. + (deg) (arcsec) nights ------------------------------------------------------------------- 13346+1044 BU 612 AB 8987 .433 242.9 0.24 1N 244.9 0.24 1N 242.2 0.25 1N 13375+3617 STF 1768 AB 8974 .433 103.6 1.69 1n 103.6 1.97 1n 104.4 1.66 1n 14323+2641 A 570 9301 .436 213.4 0.22 1N 213.1 0.24 1N 14455+4222 STT 285 9378 .433 121.5 0.37 1N 121.8 0.41 1N 14489+0557 STF 1883 9392 .433 285.7 0.63 1N 285.6 0.72 1N 284.0 0.70 1N 14534+1543 STT 288 9425 .433 168.0 1.20 1n 165.9 1.41 1n 165.4 1.20 1n 15161-0454 STF 3091 AB 9557 .433 235.7 0.63 1n 234.4 0.58 1n 236.3 0.60 1n 15232+3018 STF 1937 AB 9617 .436 30.4 1.03 1N 30.6 1.04 1N 29.8 1.04 1N 15416+1941 HU 580 AB 9744 .436 69.6 0.24 1N 69.5 0.27 1N 16515+0113 STT 315 10230 .436 326.6 0.39 1N 326.2 0.35 1N 17121+4544 KUI 79 AB .436 334.9 0.27 1N 334.7 0.27 1N 332.8 0.30 1N 18054+2332 STF 2272 11046 .436 206.7 1.61 1N 207.5 1.67 1N 205.7 1.56 1N 18433+1847 COU 816 .436 303.5 0.29 1N 305.1 0.29 1N 303.5 0.32 1N 18466+3821 HU 1191 11680 .436 288.8 0.28 1N 290.1 0.25 1N 19394+2216 STF 2556 12752 .436 17.4 0.32 1N 15.0 0.31 1N 17.5 0.34 1N 20199+4522 STT 406 13723 .436 110.9 0.46 1n 111.6 0.52 1n 111.9 0.42 1n 21439+2751 HO 166 15267 .436 65.3 0.34 1N 66.4 0.34 1N 66.4 0.33 1N =================================================================== The deadline for contributions to Information Circular No. 140 is: February 15th 2000 J. A. Docobo (oadoco@usc.es) J. F. Ling (oafana@usc.es) Fax: (81) 59 70 54 Observatorio Astronomico "R. M. Aller" P. O. Box 197 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela SPAIN ISSN: 1024-7769

INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION COMMISSION 26 (DOUBLE STARS)
INFORMATION CIRCULAR No. 140 (FEBRUARY 2000) NEW ORBITS ADS Name P (yr) T e W(2000) 2000 Author RA 2000 DEC n (deg) a (") i (deg) w (deg) Last ob. 2001 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- COU 247 280.00 1990.21 0.426 21.3 307.6 0.300 BLANCO 00094+1907 1.2857 0.846 124.9 47.1 1999.712 302.3 0.299 1522 STF 183 AB 332.79 1996.42 0.523 170.3 156.2 0.346 SEYMOUR 01551+2847 1.0818 0.489 121.3 290.5 1997.685 155.3 0.348 & MASON 2612 STF 400 AB 244.52 1939.07 0.669 82.6 265.6 1.416 SEYMOUR 03350+6002 1.4723 1.052 67.1 35.1 1996.0601 265.8 1.425 & MASON COU 691 36.52 2003.74 0.600 52.7 221.4 0.108 DOCOBO 03423+3141 9.8576 0.167 73.9 252.0 1996.866 226.7 0.103 & LING 4971 A 2667 102.34 1931.89 0.365 110.0 228.7 0.278 SEYMOUR 06214+0216 3.5177 0.400 59.8 253.9 1997.1171 232.0 0.282 & MASON COU 768 26.64 1982.71 0.502 60.1 160.8 0.135 DOCOBO 06503+2410 13.5135 0.118 144.2 59.8 1996.872 153.2 0.129 & LING 5726 A 1959 32.11 1972.53 0.019 169.6 98.6 0.120 SEYMOUR 07036+3941 11.2115 0.247 61.9 333.0 1995.1462 118.4 0.138 & MASON 7044 VDK 3 127.76 2009.58 0.891 176.8 150.9 1.603 SEYMOUR 08507+0752 2.8178 2.498 59.1 102.8 1997.275 152.6 1.523 & MASON 7629 I 292 823.31 1971.04 0.832 124.6 316.8 0.638 SEYMOUR 10043-2823 0.4373 1.457 138.4 52.1 1997.1229 315.9 0.655 & MASON 7915 HO 532 AB 160.67 1972.58 0.860 110.9 72.3 0.624 MANTE 10454+3831 2.2406 1.791 100.1 280.1 1995.1411 70.6 0.615 KUI 93 68.21 1962.76 0.976 151.9 313.2 0.193 DOCOBO 19411+1349 5.2778 0.099 22.3 339.0 1995.7703 313.5 0.192 & LING ===================================================================================== PAPERS PUBLISHED IN 1999 1) ABT, H. A. & WILLMARTH D. W.: "Binaries in the Praesepe and Coma Star Clusters and Their Implications for Binary Evolution". Astrophys. J. 521, 682 (1999). 2) ARISTIDI, E. et al.: "Speckle observations of double and multiple stars at Pic du Midi: Measurements during 1995 and 1997 and new orbits". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 134 (3), 545 (1999). 3) BALEGA, I. I. et al.: "Binary star Speckle measurements during 1992-1997 from SAO 6-m and 1-m telescopes in Zelenchuk". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 140 (3), 287 (1999). 4) BENDINELLI, O. et al.: "A method to analyze adaptive optics images of binary stars". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 135 (1), 187 (1999). 5) BODEN, A. F. et al. : "The visual orbit of 64 Piscium". Astrophys. J. 527, 360 (1999). 6) BODEN, A. F. et al. : "The visual orbit of iota Pegasi". Astrophys. J. 515, 356 (1999). 7) CUYPERS, J. & SEGGWISS, W. : "CCD photometry and astrometry of visual double and multiple stars of the HIPPARCOS catalogue. II. CCD photometry and differential astrometry of 288 southern ``Intermediate" systems". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 139 (3), 425 (1999). 8) DELFOSSE, X. et al.: "Accurate masses of very low mass stars II. The very low mass triple system GL 866". Astron. Astrophys. 350, L39 (1999). 9) DOCOBO, J. A. & LING J. F.: "Orbits of five visual double stars". Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 120, 41 (1999). 10) DOCOBO, J. A., PRIETO, C. & LING J. F.: "The influence of mass loss on the eccentricity of double star orbits". Astrophys. and Space Science 261, 205 (1999). 11) DOUGLASS, G. G. et al.: "Speckle interferometry at the US Naval Observatory. IV". Astron. J. 118 (3), 1395 (1999). 12) FALIN, J. L. & MIGNARD, F. : "Mining in the Hipparcos raw data". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 135 (2), 231 (1999). 13) FARAGGIANA, R. & BONIFACIO, P. C. : "How many lambda Bootis stars are binaries?". Astron. Astrophys. 349, 521 (1999). 14) FEKEL, F. C. et al.: "Orbital elements and physical parameters of ten chromospherically active binary stars". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 137 (2), 369 (1999). 15) GEHRZ, R. D. et al. : "Thermal infrared images of the remarkable young nearby multiple star HD 98800". Astrophys. J. 512, L55 (1999). 16) GERMAIN, M. E., DOUGLASS, G. G. & WORLEY, C. E.: "Speckle interferometry at the US Naval Observatory. II". Astron. J. 117 (4), 1905 (1999). 17) GERMAIN, M. E., DOUGLASS, G. G. & WORLEY, C. E.: "Speckle interferometry at the US Naval Observatory. III". Astron. J. 117 (5), 2511 (1999). 18) HARTKOPF, W. I. et al.: "ICCD Speckle observations of binary stars. XXII. A survey of Wolf-Rayet stars for close visual companions". Astron. J. 118 (1), 509 (1999). 19) HAUSER, H.M. & MARCY, G. W.: "The orbit of 16 Cygni AB". Pub. Astron. Soc. of the Pacific 111 (757), 321 (1999). 20) HOLMAN, M. J. & WIEGERT, P. A.: "Long-term stability of planets in binary systems". Astron. J. 117 (1), 621 (1999). 21) HORCH, E. et al.: "Speckle observations of binary stars with the wiyn telescope. I. Measures during 1997". Astron. J. 117 (1), 548 (1999). 22) IWAMOTO, N. et al.: "A comparison of stellar evolution with binary systems". Astrophys. J. 521, 297 (1999). 23) JASINTA, D.M.D., RAHARTO, M. & SOEGIARTINI, E. : " Photographic observations of visual double stars". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 134 (1), 87 (1999). 24) JASINTA, D.M.D. & HIDAYAT, B. : " The photographic observations on the components of Sirius". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 136 (2), 293 (1999). 25) KOPEIKIN, S. M., OZERNOY, L. M. : "Post-NewtonianTheory for Precision Doppler Measurements of Binary Star Orbits". Astrophys. J. 523, 771 (1999). 26) KOVALEVA, D. A. & MALKOV, O. Y.: " On the possible multiplicity of the components of some low-mass systems". Astron. Reports 43 (2), 100 (1999). 27) KRYMOLOWSKI, Y. & MAZEH, T.: "Studies of multiple stellar systems - II. Second-order averaged Hamiltonian to follow long-term orbital modulations of hierarchical triple systems". MNRAS, 304, 720 (1999). 28) LEONE, F. & CATANZARO, G. : "Orbital elements of binary systems with a chemically peculiar star". Astron. Astrophys. 343, 273 (1999). 29) LU, W. & RUCINSKI, S. M.: "Radial velocity studies of close binary stars. I". Astron. J. 118 (1), 515 (1999). 30) MASON, B.D., DOUGLASS, G.G. & HARTKOPF, W. I.: "Binary star orbits from speckle interferometry. I. Improved orbital elements of 22 visual systems". Astron. J. 117 (2), 1023 (1999). 31) MASON, B.D. et al.: "Speckle interferometry of new and problem Hipparcos binaries". Astron. J. 117 (4), 1890 (1999). 32) MOLENBERGHS, G., AERTS, C. & DE CAT, P.: "An improved method for the determination of the orbital parameters of a binary system that contains a pulsating component". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 135 (2), 383 (1999). 33) MORAN, C. et al.: "The orbital parameters of three new subdwarf B binaries". MNRAS, 304, 535 (1999). 34) OBLAK, E. et al.: "CCD photometry and astrometry for visual double and multiple stars of the HIPPARCOS catalogue. I. Presentation of the large scale project". Astron. Astrophys. 346, 5230 (1999). 35) PENNY, L. R., GIES, D. R. & BAGNUOLO, W. G., JR. : "Tomographic Separation of Composite Spectra. VI. The Physical Properties of the Massive Close Binary HD 152248". Astrophys. J. 518, 450 (1999). 36) PETROVA, A. V. & ORLOV, V. V.: "Apsidal motion in double stars. I. Catalog." Astron. J. 117 (1), 587 (1999). 37) POURBAIX, D. : "Gamma Persei: a challenge for stellar evolution models". Astron. Astrophys. 348, 127 (1999). 38) POURBAIX, D., NEUFORGE-VERHEECKE, C. & NOELS, A.: "Revised masses of alpha Centauri". Astron. Astrophys. 344, 172 (1999). 39) RICHICHI, A. et al.: "New binary stars discovered by Lunar occultations". Astron. Astrophys. 350, 491 (1999). 40) ROBERTS, L. C.: "Three methods of determining magnitudes of individual stars in resolved binary systems". Pur. Astron. Soc. of the Pacific ,111 (759), 650 (1999). 41) ROBERTSON, J. G. et al.: "Interferometry and spectroscopy of beta Cen: a beta Cephei star in a binary system*". MNRAS, 302, 245 (1999). 42) SALAMAN, M., MORLET, G. & GILI, R.: "CCD measurements of visual double star made with 50 cm. refractor of the Nice Observatory". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 135 (3), 499 (1999). 43) SALIM, S. & GOULD, A. : "Saggitarius A ``visual binaries": A direct measurement of the galactocentric distance". Astrophys. J. 523, 633 (1999). 44) SCALLY, A., CLARKE, C. & MCCAUGHREAN, M. J.: "Wide binaries in the Orion nebula cluster". MNRAS, 306, 253 (1999). 45) SCHWEICKHARDT, J. et al.: "Revised mass determination of the super massive Wolf-Rayet star WR 22". Astron. Astrophys. 347, 127 (1999). 46) SHATSKY, N. et al.: "UBV absolute CCD photometry and differential astrometry of a sample visual double stars with A-type primaries". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 139 (1), 69 (1999). 47) SINACHOPOULOS, D. et al.: "CCD astrometry and instrumental DeltaV photometry of visual double stars. V. Differential measurements of pairs with angular separations 1" to 4" ". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 136 (3), 525 (1999). 48) SMEKHOV, M. G.: "Spectroscopic Components in the Multiple Systems ADS 4200 and ADS 12656". Astron. Letters 25 (8), 536 (1999). 49) SODERHJELM, S.: "Visual binary orbits and masses post Hipparcos". Astron. Astrophys. 341, 121 (1999). 50) TAMAZIAN, V. S., DOCOBO, J. A. & MELIKIAN, N. : "Spectral, photometric and polarimetric study of visual binary COU 14" Astrophys. J. 513, 933 (1999). 51) TAMAZIAN, V. S. & DOCOBO, J. A.: "Flare activity of visual binary COU 14" Astrophys. and Space Science 261, 95 (1999). 52) TOKOVININ, A. A.: "New spectroscopic components in 8 multiple systems". Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 136 (2), 373 (1999). 53) TOKOVININ A. A.: " The visual orbit of HD 98800". Astron. Letters, 25 (10), 669 (1999). 54) TOKOVININ, A. A. et al.: "A near IR adaptive optics search for faint companions to early-type multiple stars". Astron. Astrophys. 346, 481 (1999). 55) TORRES, G.: "Subestellar companion masses from minimal radial velocity or astrometric information: a Monte Carlo approach.". Pub. Astron. Soc. of the Pacific 111 (756), 169 (1999). 56) TORRES, G. et al.: "The nearby low-mass visual binary Wolf 424" Astron. J. 117 (1), 562 (1999). 57) WEIGELT, G. et al.: "Bispectrum speckle interferometry of the Orion Trapezium stars: detection of a close (33 mas) companion of Theta (1) Ori C". Astron. Astrophys. 347, 15 (1999). =================================================================================== NOTE J. F. Courtot reports that the following wide "CTT" pairs, noticed and measured in Chaumont (France), in 1997, have been included in WDS Catalog. =================================================================================== Name BD RA, Dec Theta Rho Mags Spectral (2000) (deg) (") Type ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CTT 1 +56 3129 00 00.3 +56 51 92 46.5 8.5 - 9.5 A2 CTT 2 +55 195 00 54.5 +56 19 42 62.0 7.2 - 9.8 A5+F5 CTT 3 +62 423 02 35.9 +63 38 88 88.1 7.9 - 8.3 A5 CTT 4 AB +33 994 05 17.5 +33 12 104 98.3 7.7 - 9.5 A2 CTT 4 AC " " 282 113.6 7.7 - 9.5 - CTT 4 AD " " 270 102.8 7.7 - 9.5 - CTT 4 AE " " 269 116.2 7.7 - 10.0 - CTT 5 +47 4334 23 57.5 +48 17 325 33.8 9.3 - 9.5 M0 =================================================================================== The deadline for contributions to Information Circular No. 141 is: June 15th 2000 J. A. Docobo (oadoco@usc.es) J. F. Ling (oafana@usc.es) Fax: (81) 59 70 54 Observatorio Astronomico "R. M. Aller" P. O. Box 197 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela SPAIN ISSN: 1024-7769

INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION COMMISSION 26 (DOUBLE STARS)
INFORMATION CIRCULAR No. 141 (JUNE 2000) NEW ORBITS ADS Name P (yr) T e W(2000) 2000 Author RA 2000 DEC n (deg) a (") i (deg) w (deg) Last ob. 2001 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 221 STT 4 108.90 1907.9 0.56 10.8 137.8 0.331 ALZNER 00167+3629 3.3058 0.350 162.5 356.3 1999.33 134.8 0.319 328 HU 506 144.50 1955.60 0.047 33.8 74.4 0.119 DOCOBO 00243+5201 2.4914 0.201 65.0 308.2 1995.77 77.5 0.115 328 HU 506 152.68 1953.43 0.099 211.9 74.3 0.120 HARTKOPF 00243+5201 2.3579 0.203 65.0 125.1 1996.8657 77.2 0.116 2200 BU 524 AB 31.53 1996.53 0.753 25.4 3.0 0.168 DOCOBO 02537+3820 11.4184 0.221 121.0 265.0 1999.710 356.9 0.182 & VASYUK COU 1688 9.26 1986.12 0.139 9.0 110.8 0.112 DOCOBO 03320+4341 38.8769 0.106 22.9 281.2 1996.049 142.3 0.113 & LING COU 1688 9.38 1995.28 0.143 166.5 104.3 0.111 MANTE 03320+4341 38.3795 0.108 29.6 113.8 1996.049 134.4 0.116 3182 HU 304 54.77 1937.24 0.720 239.8 354.2 0.167 HARTKOPF 04239+0928 6.5729 0.188 34.2 332.0 1997.8297 358.6 0.181 3317 CHARA 18 Aa 17.25 1993.10 0.041 146.2 169.2 0.165 OLEVIC & 04357+1010 20.8718 0.224 68.7 227.0 1995.77 189.2 0.123 JOVANOVIC 3991 A 847 48.31 1960.86 0.224 141.9 142.6 0.315 HARTKOPF 05239-0052 7.4519 0.333 86.9 105.4 1993.0924 143.1 0.294 5586 STT 159 AB 262.0 1992.68 0.74 43.4 222.1 0.452 ALZNER 06573+5825 1.3740 1.19 78.0 98.0 2000.05 223.3 0.486 5958 STT 170 379.67 1632.21 0.433 274.1 61.0 0.454 HARTKOPF 07176+0918 0.9482 1.688 105.6 278.3 1998.203 57.5 0.420 6554 BU 581 44.69 1999.51 0.429 113.8 76.1 0.206 HARTKOPF 08044+1217 8.0555 0.475 54.9 295.7 1997.8274 94.0 0.256 7082 A 2131 45.02 1973.16 0.475 162.1 254.5 0.361 MASON 08549+2612 7.9966 0.347 43.5 257.5 1997.28 259.3 0.357 FIN 349 42.38 1972.12 0.384 141.3 74.9 0.122 HARTKOPF 09327+0152 8.4946 0.159 55.8 75.1 1997.1260 82.3 0.124 7541 HO 369 144.34 1924.48 0.931 301.2 103.4 0.413 SEYMOUR 09512+3629 2.4941 0.254 64.4 322.6 1996.29 103.5 0.414 & MASON 8198 HU 1134 81.47 1927.37 0.468 120.1 120.5 0.163 HARTKOPF 11322+3615 4.4188 0.216 91.4 74.7 1997.4025 120.3 0.159 8239 BU 456 390.59 1912.50 0.627 45.3 155.6 0.911 OLEVIC & 11369-1221 0.9217 1.029 47.4 317.3 1996.37 156.3 0.919 POPOVIC 8539 STF 1639 AB 575.44 1891.75 0.926 140.8 324.6 1.712 OLEVIC & 12244+2535 0.6256 1.224 150.4 9.7 2000.342 324.5 1.720 POPOVIC 9229 STF 1834 375.97 1902.78 0.886 287.3 103.1 1.474 SEYMOUR 14203+4830 0.9575 0.972 76.4 355.5 1999.2806 103.1 1.482 & MASON 9392 STF 1883 216.17 1965.37 0.610 99.4 281.7 0.812 SEYMOUR 14489+0557 1.6654 0.797 107.4 43.0 1999.4285 281.3 0.828 & MASON 10531 HU 1179 91.70 1980.41 0.692 96.9 275.3 0.229 HARTKOPF 17240+3835 3.9258 0.181 104.4 37.9 1997.2689 274.9 0.234 COU 1786 46.95 1991.39 0.190 36.0 283.2 0.091 DOCOBO 18043+4206 7.6677 0.133 46.9 166.5 1995.3112 294.4 0.090 & LING OL 22 135.10 1971.38 0.552 221.6 36.5 0.491 SEYMOUR 19124-3304 2.6647 0.426 41.9 36.8 1992.4576 37.7 0.501 & MASON McA 61 22.15 1998.49 0.815 41.4 50.9 0.054 OLEVIC & 20331+4950 16.2538 0.104 79.4 273.2 1995.7621 56.8 0.058 JOVANOVIC 16873 FOX 102 221.06 1987.71 0.354 282.0 2.3 0.199 SEYMOUR 23374+0737 1.6285 0.413 46.4 40.6 1996.97 6.8 0.200 & MASON J.C. Thorel reports the position of the double star DOO 35, and one JCT's new double star using 50 cm refractor at Nice Observatory. STAR BD number Mags Coord. 2000 1990+ theta rho (deg) (arcsec) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- DOO 35 +52 1012 9.0-9.0 05 56.1 +52 50 9.060 356.3 6.25 JCT 4 AB +10 4428p/4428s 9.2-9.5 20 59.2 +11 32 9.772 10.7 10.59 PAUL MULLER (1910-2000) Paul MULLER est ne le 17 novembre 1910 a LORQUIN en Moselle (France). Il commence sa carriere professionnelle en 1931 a l'Observatoire de Strasbourg. Apres y avoir effectue divers travaux allant des observations meridiennes a la mesure de l'acceleration de la pesanteur en passant par la photometrie d'etoiles variables et de novae, il observe les etoiles doubles avec le petit refracteur equatorial de 16 cm de diametre, puis en 1947 il accedera au grand refracteur de 49 cm. Sur le conseil d'Andre DANJON, il s'interesse a la birefringence et realise en 1937 le micrometre a double image auquel son nom est attache et qui fit progresser considerablement la precision des mesures des etoiles doubles. Ce micrometre sera le theme da la these qu'il passera en 1948. Les progres realise est tel, et son habilite d'observateur si remarquable, qu'il mesure a la lunette equatoriale de 91 cm de diametre de l'Observatoire Lick des couples non resolus, separes seulement de 0.1. En 1953 il decouvre quatre couples dont MUL 4 qui s'averera etre une orbitale avec une periode d'environ 20 ans. Les autres applications de son micrometre son nombreuses et variees: diametres de Mercure, de Venus, de Mars, des satellites de Jupiter, de Titan, de Vesta, aplatissement de Mars. Apres addition des filtres colores, il mesure les differences de magnitudes de couples stellaires en plusieurs couleurs et determine les indices de composantes dont souvent les spectres etaient inconnus. La serie de determination ainsi realisee est l'une des meilleures obtenues dans le monde. En 1956, il arrive a l'Observatoire de Meudon. Il renove la grande lunette de 83 cm de diametre qui etait en hors service depuis 25 ans et il fait installer un plancher mobile qui permet a l'observateur d'etre toujours bien installe face a l'oculaire. Il effectue a partir de 1966 plus de 1500 mesures d'etoiles doubles. Il participe egalement a la maitrise d'oeuvre de la Tour Solaire. Le lancement du premier satellite artificiel en octobre 1957 marque pour MULLER le debut d'une autre activite importante ou il fit oeuvre de pionnier. Elle va de l'observation des satellites artificiels a l'exercice de responsabilites dans l'organisation de la recherche spatiale francaise et a son integration dans les organismes nationaux lors de leur creation. Il est membre delegue de la France au COSPAR. En 1931, il est membre fondateur du groupe Alsace et en 1947 du groupe Lorraine de la Societe Astronomique de France. Conseiller scientifique en 1983 il devient en 1966, President d'Honneur de la Commission des Etoiles Doubles de cette Societe qui l'a honore des prix Henry Rey en 1936, Prix des Dames en 1947, de la Medaille commemorative en 1954 et de sa plus haute distinction: le Prix Janssen en 1985. Il a egalement ete promu au grade de Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur de la Republique Francaise. En 1954, MULLER cree les circulaires de la Commission 26 - Etoiles Doubles - de l'Union Astronomique Internationale a la suite du projet du Professeur Wilhelm RABE dont le texte original etait: "Plan fur ein Nachrictenblatt der Doppelsternastronomie". Il assure la realisation et la publication de ces circulaires jusqu'en 1983 et il ecrit dans la circulaire no. 90: "Foundateur de cette circulaire qui vient d'entrer dans sa 30e anee, le moment est venu d'en transmettre la responsabilite a plus jeune, je tiens a remercier tous ceux qui en ont assure le succes. Je sais que notre ami Paul COUTEAU trouvera les memes concours et je souhaite longue vie encore a ce lien precieux qui reste ainsi entre les meilleures mains". Il a ete President de cette Commission de 1952 a 1958 (deux mandats successifs) et de 1976 a 1979, et Secretaire General du Comite National Francais d'Astronomie de 1959 a1968. L'ampleur de son travail se traduit par la realisation seul ou en collaboration, de quatre catalogues d'ephemerides de couples stellaires orbitaux, par plus de 330 publications et par la participation a plusieurs ouvrages collectifs. Il part en retraite en 1979 apres avoir consacre aux etoiles doubles la part la plus importante de son activite. Jusqu'en 1992 il continue a venir regulierement a Nice pour poursuivre son programme de recherche de couples nouveaux dans la bande celeste allant de +57deg de declinaison au Pole Nord. Il aura decouvert plus de 700 etoiles doubles qui sont en 1992 publiees dans un catalogue et depuis 1999 enregistrees dans SINODIE, systeme informatique des etoiles doubles de Nice: http://sinodie.obs-nice.fr/. Toutes ses mesures sont egalement accessibles sur les sites electroniques du Centre de donnees stellaires de Strasbourg (CDS) et du Washington Naval Observatory (WDS). Paul MULLER s'eteint a Nice le 9 juillet 2000, dans sa 89e annee. De la maison de retraite de Cimiez, ou il s'etait retire avec son epouse, il avait toujours garde un regard sur les couples de l'Observatoire de Nice. Jean-Claude THOREL Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur IN MEMORIAM OF DR.PAUL MULLER As a tribute of the Information Circular current Editors to its first Editor, we include hereby a copy of the Circular No.1. Rest in Peace, Dr. Muller. NOTES 1. Dr. Mason noted in previous Circular No. 140 the following typo in T for the orbit of Seymour & Mason for ADS 1522 = STF 183, it should be 1966.42 instead of 1996.42 2. Paper by ODENKIRCHEN, M. and BROSCHE, P.: "The proper-motion signal of unresolved binaries in the Hipparcos catalogue". Astron. Nach. 320, 6, 397-412 (1999) was missed in PAPERS PUBLISHED IN 1999 (Information Cicular No. 140). =================================================================== The deadline for contributions to Information Circular No. 142 is: October 15th 2000 J. A. Docobo (oadoco@usc.es) J. F. Ling (oafana@usc.es) Tel. (81) 59 27 47 Fax: (81) 59 70 54 Observatorio Astronomico "R. M. Aller" P. O. Box 197 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela SPAIN ISSN: 1024-7769

INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION COMMISSION 26 (DOUBLE STARS)
INFORMATION CIRCULAR No. 142 (OCTOBER 2000) NEW ORBITS ADS Name P (yr) T e W(2000) 2000 Author RA 2000 DEC n (deg) a (") i (deg) w (deg) Last ob. 2001 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HDO 181 221.00 1978.71 0.406 161.6 59.7 0.29 ALZNER 00090-5400 1.6290 0.420 154.1 25.3 1999.77 56.9 0.29 & ARGYLE 819 A 1902 92.67 1964.91 0.842 121.1 198.5 0.340 DOCOBO 00593-0040 3.8848 0.346 56.9 270.2 1996.696 199.7 0.341 & LING 1105 STF 115 AB 216.82 1984.60 0.931 138.7 172.7 0.175 DOCOBO 01233+5808 1.6604 0.863 98.3 128.5 1999.729 170.7 0.191 & LING 1630 STT 38 BC 63.67 2015.50 0.927 109.6 104.8 0.465 DOCOBO 02039+4220 5.6542 0.302 109.8 183.4 1999.726 104.4 0.450 & LING 3174 STF 535 1128.00 2046.00 0.495 114.0 279.7 1.132 HARTKOPF 04233+1123 0.3191 2.040 145.5 243.6 1999.8315 279.0 1.126 & MASON 3614 HU 445 303.69 1956.51 0.376 73.2 121.1 0.420 SCARDIA 05017+2050 1.1854 0.592 45.0 323.0 2000.017 122.6 0.421 4929 BU 895 103.69 2009.30 0.050 140.6 148.6 0.252 HARTKOPF 06200+2826 3.4719 0.282 70.1 58.0 1999.8319 150.2 0.245 & MASON MCA 27 38.90 1976.73 0.557 113.5 295.7 0.240 HARTKOPF 06384+2859 9.2545 0.159 119.5 343.3 1999.8319 294.0 0.236 & MASON 5956 A 2123 77.31 1981.46 0.944 137.9 345.1 0.402 HARTKOPF 07171-1202 4.6566 0.684 79.7 80.2 1999.1603 345.9 0.402 & MASON 6825 A 550 42.00 1952.70 0.026 170.4 127.6 0.072 HARTKOPF 08277-0425 8.5714 0.170 108.0 24.0 1999.8666 109.0 0.058 & MASON I 10 142.00 2000.80 0.470 163.6 343.2 1.06 ALZNER 08447-5443 2.5352 1.990 105.2 188.0 1999.782 341.1 1.04 & ARGYLE 7012 A 2552 82.38 1968.93 0.232 34.7 64.8 0.240 HARTKOPF 08487+0057 4.3700 0.239 128.4 166.0 1996.8665 62.3 0.247 & MASON 7039 A 2473 116.70 2015.30 0.890 108.5 66.9 0.277 HARTKOPF 08507+1800 3.0848 0.476 68.0 89.1 1999.1578 68.5 0.273 & MASON 9089 A 1097 AB 224.70 1920.69 0.105 60.1 241.1 0.437 SCARDIA 14020+5713 1.6021 0.409 49.7 45.7 1997.330 242.0 0.438 COU 490 50.79 2013.10 0.672 104.1 339.8 0.183 MANTE 16450+2928 7.0876 0.169 136.1 269.9 1995.442 336.5 0.179 10276 A 1143 88.20 1949.80 0.632 101.7 244.3 0.404 HARTKOPF 16566+5711 4.0816 0.290 136.4 39.2 1997.4004 243.2 0.399 & MASON 10341 BU 823 532.00 1954.70 0.417 66.2 152.2 0.919 HARTKOPF 17066+0039 0.6767 1.600 37.6 16.5 1998.5940 153.6 0.925 & MASON 11080 STT 524 686.00 1946.30 0.672 24.2 213.7 0.393 HARTKOPF 18075+1940 0.5247 0.584 129.7 57.8 1997.65 213.2 0.399 & MASON 11530 HO 87 118.57 1972.73 0.620 21.8 71.2 0.348 HARTKOPF 18386+1632 3.0362 0.310 34.2 269.0 1997.682 72.8 0.352 & MASON KUI 103 29.50 2007.66 0.742 132.1 104.2 0.854 MANTE 21000+4004 12.2034 0.589 0.1 130.5 1995.850 108.4 0.798 KUI 108 26.49 1974.72 0.333 12.3 223.8 0.099 HARTKOPF 21424+4105 13.5900 0.153 142.4 176.1 1997.5232 200.2 0.102 & MASON 16819 HU 298 30.73 1987.47 0.263 126.8 339.3 0.203 HARTKOPF 23322+0705 11.7149 0.173 31.0 57.0 1997.8293 346.3 0.202 & MASON Report of IAU Commission 26 Business Meeting Manchester, England, 2000 August 14 President: C. Scarfe (Canada) Vice-President: W. Hartkopf (U.S.A.) Organizing Committee: T. Armstrong (U.S.A.) - continuing F. Fekel (U.S.A.) - new P. Lampens (Belgium) - new J. Ling (Spain) - new R. Mathieu (U.S.A.) - continuing M. Valtonen (Finland) - continuing Past-president: H. Zinnecker (Germany) Despite the fact that more than half the commission's members voted in the recent election of vice-president Hartkopf and the new OC members listed above, and despite the significance of several agenda items, the meeting was poorly attended, with only nine members present, the same as at the previous meeting, in Kyoto. This report is based on notes taken by W. Hartkopf and the author, the latter of whom takes full responsibility for any inaccuracy. The deaths of three members, C. Worley, P. Muller and C. Jaschek were acknowledged with a moment of silence. L. Loden's retirement and resignation from the commission was noted. The commission has added twelve new members, as follows. W. Chen (Taiwan) B. Reipurth (U.S.A.) C. Clarke (U.K.) R. Sagar (India) A. Ghez (U.S.A.) M. Simon (U.S.A. P. Kroupa (Germany) C. Terquem (France) O. Malkov (Russia) A. Tarasov (Ukraine) B. Mason (U.S.A.) L. Vaz (Brazil) (Mason has been a consultant for the past three years, but has now joined the I.A.U. and becomes a full member of the commission.) Some discussion followed about how one might connect amateur double-star experts with the commission - the names of A. Alzner (Germany) and R. Tanguay (U.S.A.) were mentioned specifically - but no conclusion was reached. (It appears that I.A.U. rules prohibit their appointment as consultants.) Zinnecker presented and briefly discussed the triennial report for the Transactions. He also reported on Symposium 200, the highly successful meeting in Potsdam on Young Binary Stars, for which our commission was the primary sponsor. We also supported Colloquium 170, on Precise Stellar Radial Velocities, held in Victoria in 1998, and a Symposium on Extragalactic Star Clusters, to be held next year in Chile. Finally, we were among the supporting commissions for two Joint Discussions at this year's General Assembly, JD 5 on Mixing and Diffusion in Stars and JD 13 on Hipparcos and the Luminosity Calibration of the Nearer Stars, as well as a multi-commission meeting on the nomenclature of companions to stars. Hartkopf reported briefly on the commission's website, which has been moved from Atlanta to Washington. He encouraged members to visit it and welcomed suggestions for matters to be included on the site. Zinnecker presented a report from J. Docobo on the Information Circulars. It was felt that they should be linked to ADS or Simbad, and that future distribution should be done electronically as much as possible to reduce costs. The possibility of including spectroscopic orbits was also raised. Scarfe reported on the multi-commission meeting on nomenclature. With the advent of planet discoveries, a further level of complexity has been added to that already engendered by the discoveries of binaries by observations at wavelengths other than optical. The potential discovery of many more from space missions lends urgency to the task of finding a nomenclature scheme that encompasses those new dicoveries and techniques. In the end it was resolved to let the WDS group tackle the problem over the next three years, with the support of our commission and others with a stake in the outcome. Mason reported on the current status of the WDS, including new data sources to be included, and Hartkopf discussed the new orbit catalog, which is now nearly complete. It was suggested that a list of calibration objects be posted on the web, and Hartkopf agreed to post a list of "Grade 1" objects with expanded ephemerides. An email message from Docobo stated that his group is also preparing an orbit catalog. Possible future meetings were discussed. Topics included a Herschel bicentenary, multiple stars, complememtary techniques (a sequel to the Atlanta Colloquium), interaction of binaries with their environments, binaries as distance indicators, and mass determination at the bottom of the main sequence. Possible sites included Mexico, Russia, the United States and the next General Assembly in Australia. Members wishing to comment on these ideas, or add their own, are invited to contact Scarfe at scarfe@uvic.ca or by mail. A very brief discussion of new instrument developments ensued. We really needed more time to discuss the variety of new instruments, both ground-based and in space, which should lead to rapid growth of double star astronomy in the next few years. An extra session for such a discussion is being considered for the next General Assembly, since several new instruments will be in operation by then. Group photos were then taken of all business meeting participants, and the meeting adjourned. Colin Scarfe President Commission 26 KAJ A. STRAND (1907-2000) It is with great regret that I have to inform you of the death, in Washington, at the age of 93, of Kaj Aa. Strand, who served as president of our commission from 1964 to 1967. He was born in Denmark in 1907, and emigrated to the United States in 1938. After serving in World War II, he spent several years at Yerkes Observatory and Nothwestern University, before joining the U.S. Naval Observatory in 1958. His tenure as Scientific Director there from 1963 until his retirement in 1977 saw the observatory flourish in all areas of astrometry, thanks to the superb astrometric telescope in Flagstaff for whose design and construction he was primarily responsible, and which now justly bears his name. I have written to his widow to express sympathy on behalf of the commission. A full obituary has been submitted by his colleague Steven Dick to the Washington Post. Colin Scarfe President Commission 26 ANNOUNCEMENT The database SIDONIe (Site Informatique des etoiles Doubles de Nice) is now available on the Web at the adress http://sidonie.obs-nice.fr SIDONIe recovers all the measurements of doubles stars discovered by Paul Couteau and Paul Muller as well as measurements made on visual couples north of -10� declination with separations less than 1 arcsecond or which exibit obvious orbital motion. The data base was conceived to allows research on a specific objet (measurements, orbits, references) or statical research to help the preparation of an observing program. This data base will be updated by contribution of new data coming from published observations and orbits. D. Bonneau Scientific manager of Centre des Etoiles Doubles. Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur. ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE IC EDITORS Following the suggestion of the current IAU Commission 26 President, Dr. Colin Scarfe, beginning with No.143 (February, 2001) the Information Circular will normally be delivered only by e-mail. To those institutions and people who would like to receive a hard copy, it will be sent only upon their request to the Editors. =================================================================== The deadline for contributions to Information Circular No. 143 is: February 15th 2001 J. A. Docobo (oadoco@usc.es) J. F. Ling (oafana@usc.es) Tel. (81) 59 27 47 Fax: (81) 59 70 54 Observatorio Astronomico "R. M. Aller" P. O. Box 197 Universidade de Santiago de Compostela SPAIN ISSN: 1024-7769