3-486: The Washington Double Star Catalog , or WDS , is a catalog of double stars , maintained at the United States Naval Observatory . The catalog contains positions, magnitudes , proper motions and spectral types and has entries for (as of June 2017) 141,743 pairs of double stars. The catalog also includes multiple stars . In general, a multiple star with n components will be represented by entries in
6-900: Is used to identify the observer who reported the information. For example, HEI is used for the German astronomer W. D. Heintz . Astronomical catalogue An astronomical catalog or catalogue is a list or tabulation of astronomical objects , typically grouped together because they share a common type, morphology , origin, means of detection, or method of discovery. The oldest and largest are star catalogues . Hundreds have been published, including general ones and special ones for such objects as infrared stars , variable stars , giant stars , multiple star systems , star clusters , and so forth. General catalogs for deep space objects or for objects other than stars are also large. Again, there are specialized ones for nebulas , galaxies , X-ray sources , radio sources , quasars and other classes. The same
9-727: The catalog for n-1 pairs of stars. The database used to construct the WDS originated at Lick Observatory , where it was used to construct the Index Catalog of Visual Double Stars , published in 1963. In 1965, under the initiative of Charles Worley, it was transferred to the Naval Observatory. The catalog has since been augmented by many measurements, mainly from the Hipparcos and Tycho catalogues and results from speckle interferometry , as well as other sources. A unique 1–3 letter discovery code
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