We present (table 1) the measurements of 167 visual double stars, made in 2000 and 2001 with the 50 cm refractor of the Nice Observatory and attached CCD camera, using an algorithm based on the adjustment of a tridimensional mathematical surface. Position angle, angular separation and magnitude difference are given. 33 new binaries (discovered by HIPPARCOS (HDS) or newly determined from Tycho-2 database (TDS)) discovered by Hipparcos were measured.
Recent CCD observations were performed in the period 1998-2004 for a large sample of visual double and multiple stars selected from the Hipparcos Catalogue (Cat. <I/239>) and/or from the Gliese Catalogue of Nearby Stars (Cat. <V/70>). Accurate astrometric and photometric data allowing us to characterise the individual components are provided. These data are compared to Hipparcos data or to data from an older epoch to assess the nature of the observed systems. We simultaneously apply a Moffat-Lorentz profile with a similar shape to all detected components and adjust the profile parameters from which we obtain the relative astrometric position (epoch, position angle, angular separation) as well as differential multi-colour photometry (filters (B)VRI).
The US Naval Observatory has mined over 140 astrometric catalogs, including the Astrographic Catalogue and the Two Micron All Sky Survey, for measures of double stars. This resulted in 114,218 new measures of 47,007 different systems spanning 110 years; these are now included in the Washington Double Star catalog (WDS). This is the single largest data set ever added to the WDS. The measures are typically of wider pairs, most between 4" and 30" thus, their value in aiding orbit determination is limited. However, they have proven invaluable in the verification of systems and the determination of rectilinear motions of systems.
Measures and discoveries of visual double stars made at the Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur at Nice, between 1988 and 1994, with the 50 cm refractor equipped with a filar micrometer and electronic recording device. The programs proposed by J. Dommanget involve the complement of the C.C.D.M. (resolving problems of identification of double stars and of coherency in the Index) and the INput CAtalog Hipparcos (resolution of ambiguities on the binarity and on the position of certain double stars which have seldom or never been observed again from the epoch or their discovery)
A list of 271 double stars of nearly equal components with separations up to about one minute of arc is given. Their physical nature is demonstrated by their spectral type distribution which coincides with that of close double stars of equal components, but differs from that of general field stars.
Position angle and separation measures of 482 primarily southern binary stars are presented. These were obtained from speckle observations taken at the Carlos U. Cesco Observatory, El Leoncito, Argentina, using a multianode microchannel array detector during the period 1994 July to 1996 July.
We present 549 observations of 181 primarily southern binary stars. Of these, 32 are high-quality nondetections, meaning that, if binary, the system had a separation below the diffraction limit at the time of the observation, and relative astrometry is presented for the remaining 517 observations. In addition, a magnitude difference measure is reported in 312 cases in which the observation was judged to be of sufficient quality to have little decorrelation of the speckle pattern of the secondary relative to the primary star. These data were obtained from speckle observations taken at the Lowell-Tololo 0.6m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory using a fast-readout CCD detector during 2001 November.
A large list of common proper motion stars selected from the third Astronomischen Gesellschaft Katalog (AGK3) was monitored with the CORAVEL (for COrrelation RAdial VELocities) spectrovelocimeter, in order to prepare a sample of physical binaries with very wide separations. In paper I,66 stars received special attention, since their radial velocities (RV) seemed to be variable. These stars were monitored over several years in order to derive the elements of their spectroscopic orbits. In addition, 10 of them received accurate RV measurements from the SOPHIE spectrograph of the T193 telescope at the Observatory of Haute-Provence. For deriving the orbital elements of double-lined spectroscopic binaries (SB2s), a new method was applied, which assumed that the RV of blended measurements are linear combinations of the RV of the components. 13 SB2 orbits were thus calculated. The orbital elements were eventually obtained for 52 spectroscopic binaries (SBs), two of them making a triple system. 40 SBs received their first orbit and the orbital elements were improved for 10 others. In addition, 11 SBs were discovered with very long periods for which the orbital parameters were not found. It appeared that HD 153252 has a close companion, which is a candidate brown dwarf with a minimum mass of 50 Jupiter masses. In paper II, 80 wide binaries (WBs) were detected, and 39 optical pairs were identified. Adding CPM stars with separations close enough to be almost certain they are physical, a "bias-controlled" sample of 116 wide binaries was obtained, and used to derive the distribution of separations from 100 to 30,000 au. The distribution obtained doesn't match the log-constant distribution, but is in agreement with the log-normal distribution. The spectroscopic binaries detected among the WB components were used to derive statistical informations about the multiple systems. The close binaries in WBs seem to be similar to those detected in other field stars. As for the WBs, they seem to obey the log-normal distribution of periods. The number of quadruple systems is in agreement with the "no correlation" hypothesis; this indicates that an environment conducive to the formation of WBs doesn't favor the formation of subsystems with periods shorter than 10 years.
