Astrometric Data for Southern Double Stars

C.E. LÓPEZ; C.C. MALLAMACI; M. E. VERAMENDI

Araraquara, San Pablo

Congreso; Second Meeting on Astrometry in Latin America - ADeLA 2002; 2002

   Double stars are very important for astronomy since their orbital motion offers the posibility of determining the mass of the system. In order to accomplish this goal, a series of measurements-through the years-of the parameters angular distance and separation of the components of the system have to be obtained. We propose the determination of these parameters by making use of already existing astrometric catalogues available from the different Data Centers as well as the re-reduction of images obtained from the digitization of old photographic sky surveys and new digital sky surveys (a process we propose to call image mining) also available from a number of places. We also expect to make modern observations for those pairs whose parameters have appreciably changed since the last observation. The objects to be studied will be selected from the neglected star lists of the Washington Double Stars (WDS) Catalogue.