I/107A Washington Double Star Catalog (WDS) (Worley+ 1984)
The Washington Double Star Catalog
Worley C.E., Douglass G.G.: 1984
ADC_Keywords: Stars, double and multiple ; Positional data
Description:
The Washington Visual Double Star Catalog, 1984.0 (WDS) is the
successor to the Index Catalogue of Visual Double Stars, 1961.0
(Jeffers et al., 1963), which is usually denoted as the IDS.
The WDS is intended to contain all known visual double stars for which
at least one differential measure has been published through the end
of 1983. The reader is reminded that the WDS is therefore not
inclusive of all pairs which have been more casually noted, although
it does, in fact, include some of them. Approximately 384000
individual means, representing over a million individual observations,
form the basic material from which the WDS is constructed. Not
included are a small amount of data because of unresolved questions
concerning it. The WDS contains 73610 double stars, counting, as did
the IDS, multiple components in the same system as separate pairs.
References:
Jeffers H.M., van den Bos W.H., Greeby F.M., 1963, Publ. Lick. Obs. 21
File Summary:
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File Name Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
doc.ori 79 2250 Original Documentation
wds 86 73610 The catalogue
notes 80 7766 Notes to the catalogue
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See also:
I/211 : CCDM (Components of Double and Multiple stars, Dommanget+ 1994)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: wds
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 2 I2 h RAh Hours RA, equinox 1900.0
3- 5 I3 0.1min RAdm Minutes RA, equinox 1900.0
6- 8 I3 0.1min RAdm2000 ? Minutes RA, equinox 2000.0 (1)
9 A1 --- DE- Sign Dec, equinox 1900.0
10- 11 I2 deg DEd Degrees Dec, equinox 1900.0
12- 13 I2 arcmin DEm [0/99] Minutes Dec, equinox 1900.0
14- 15 I2 arcmin DEm2000 [0/99] Minutes Dec, equinox 2000.0 (1)
16- 22 A7 --- Disc Discoverer code and reference number
(See "doc.ori" for codes)
23- 27 A5 --- Comp Component identification, when the object
has more than two. (2)
28- 31 I4 a Date1 []? Date of the first satisfactory
observation
32- 35 I4 a Date2 []? Date of the last satisfactory
observation
36- 37 I2 --- NumObs []? Number of measures of the object;
when there are more than 99 measures,
the number 99 is used
38- 40 A3 deg PosAng1 Position angle for Date1 (3)
41- 43 A3 deg PosAng2 Position angle for Date2
44- 47 F4.1 arcsec Sep1 []? Angular separation for Date1 (4)
48- 51 F4.1 arcsec Sep2 []? Angular separation for Date2
52- 55 F4.1 mag Mag1 []? Magnitude of component 1
56- 59 F4.1 mag Mag2 []? Magnitude of component 2
60- 61 A2 --- Sp1 Spectral Type of component 1
62- 63 A2 --- Sp2 Spectral Type of component 2
64 A1 --- n_pmRA [EW] Proper Motion Code 'E' (east, positive)
or 'W' (west, negative)
65- 67 I3 mas/a pmRA []? Proper motion in right ascension (5)
68 A1 --- n_pmDE Proper Motion Code 'N' (north, positive)
or 'S' (south, negative)
69- 71 I3 mas/a pmDE []? Proper motion in declination (5)
72- 79 A8 --- DM Durchmusterung catalog number, SZZNNNNN (6)
80- 84 I5 --- ADS [1/17180]? ADS (Aitken's Double Star)
designation
85- 86 A2 --- Code [DNOPQR12346] Code (7)
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Note (1): The 2000-epoch positions have nothing to do with the "J2000" system.
Note (2): The Lick IDS scheme has been continued, so that components
referred to in earlier catalogs by small letters, a, b, etc.
become upper case P, Q, etc. Thus, Aa becomes AP, Bb becomes BQ, etc.
Note (3): Position angle in degrees for Date1. For some pairs, the
discoverers have given only crude estimates, such as NF or SP;
in such cases these are listed. Position angles are unprecessed
(i.e. they are for the mean date of observation.)
Note (4): Separations greater than 99.9 seconds of arc are treated
by the codes (bytes 79-80), or in the notes. In cases where no
appreciable motion was observed over the duration of observation,
only PosAng1 and Sep1 are given.
Note (5): Units are seconds of arc per 1000 years unless the Code field
is 'P' or 'R'. In these cases, the units are seconds of arc per
100 years.
Note (6): The Durchmusterung number is based on the system used by the
Henry Draper Catalog: +89 ≥ BD ≥ -22; -23 ≥ CD ≥ -51;
-52 ≥ CP ≥ -89. When a star does not follow these standards,
it is indicated in the notes.
Note (7): The notes have the following meaning (see also "doc.ori" file):
D: Declination sign change. (Across equator).
N: Notes found in the Notes table.
O: Orbit. Where motion has exceeded 360 degrees, no values
are listed in the position angle and separation fields.
Orbits may be found in the "Fourth Catalog of Orbits of
Visual Binary Stars" (Worley and Heintz, 1983), and in
the Information Circulars published by Commission 26 of
the IAU, as well as in the literature.
P: 100 year proper motion in right ascension.
Q: 100 year proper motion in declination.
R: 100 year proper motion in right ascension and declination.
1: One hundred seconds to be added to the separation.
2: Two hundred seconds to be added to the separation.
3: Three hundred seconds to be added to the separation.
4: Four hundred seconds to be added to the separation.
6: Separation given in minutes of arc rather than seconds.
There are also a few non-explained codes:
S (record 6838)
7 (record 13287)
M (record 73490)
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Byte-per-byte Description of file: notes
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 2 I2 h RAh []? Hours RA, epoch 1900.0
(blank for continuation)
4- 7 F4.1 min RAm []? Minutes RA, epoch 1900.0
9- 17 A9 --- Name Name
18- 80 A63 --- Note Text of note
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Historical Notes:
(Version 16-Mar-1994, Francois Ochsenbein, CDS)
Compared to the CD-ROM edition "Selected Astronomical Catalogs Volume 1"
(Lee E. Brotzman, Susan E. Gessner, Astronomical Data Center, NASA 1992),
the following modifications have been performed at CDS on the "wds" file:
* insertion of the decimal point in columns "Sep1", "Sep2" "Mag1", "Mag2"
to ensure a correct interpretation (missing decimals) of these values
* conversion of blank into zero in bytes 5 and 8
* no 2000-position given for 20263+8948 (line 61554)
* the following errors have been corrected in "wds" files:
line 1179: column Sep1
line 1926: columns Date1/2
line 28457: bad declination corrected
line 30269: column pmRA: "S" replaced by "W"
line 32424: columns Date1/2
line 36841: column Sep1
line 49969: column ADS
line 51102: columns Date1/2
line 54828: column NumObs
line 56061: column Sep1
line 59078: column Sep1
line 60767: column Sep1
line 67108: column Mag1
The description and ADC keywords were added at the ADC.
* 02-May-1996: Dates of observations have been completed (original
dates were offset by 1000)
(End) Francois Ochsenbein [CDS] 02-May-1996