INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION COMMISSION 26 (DOUBLE STARS)                 
                    INFORMATION CIRCULAR No. 155  (FEBRUARY 2005)                   


                                    NEW ORBITS                               

  ADS            Name        P (yr)      T       e      W(2000)      2005      Author
 RA 2000 DEC    n (deg)      a (")   i (deg)   w (deg)  Last ob.     2006      
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  434         STT 12        536.47   2012.09    0.816    17.4     201.2 0.281  LING 
00318+5431     0.6711         1.165    75.8   260.5    2004.928   203.0 0.255  et al. (*)

  873         HO 213        500.     1995.82    0.156   111.7     113.7 0.299  DOCOBO
01040+3528     0.7200         0.354    33.2   353.2    2001.8505  114.5 0.299  & LING

 1769         A 1274       1282.73   1697.16    0.732     9.4     283.5 0.450  MANTE
02193+5338     0.2807         0.825    66.9   116.2    1991.25    283.8 0.451      

 3228         BU 1186       160.59   2005.80    0.740     5.4       0.7 0.105  OLEVIC &
04275+1113     2.2417         0.401   118.6    27.3    1996.869   348.9 0.093  CVETKOVIC

              McA 16 Aa      46.81   2025.11    0.324    12.2      41.1 0.287  OLEVIC &
04422+2257     7.6913         0.249   132.3   126.8    1998.775    37.5 0.291  CVETKOVIC

 4392         STT 118 AB    553.27   1797.06    0.062   136.7     312.9 0.078  OLEVIC &
05484+2052     0.6507         0.713    90.4   124.0    1991.25    312.5 0.070  CVETKOVIC

              MLR 318       356.86   2160.55    0.577   128.7     308.7 1.555  OLEVIC &
06425+6612     1.0088         0.998    94.1   352.6    1995.19    308.7 1.553  CVETKOVIC

              CHR 26         14.07   1984.65    0.208     1.3     320.9 0.056  MANTE
07269+2015    25.5900         0.067    57.9   135.0    1995.9215  336.7 0.067      

 7456         STF 1372      371.     1993.50    0.696    64.9     245.4 0.267  ALZNER
09371+1614     0.9704         0.645    80.4   113.4    2003.59    246.0 0.275     

              FIN 65        121.88   2063.64    0.561    68.1     107.1 0.222  MANTE
12446-5717     2.9537         0.295   109.1   109.7    1993.0930  105.7 0.227      

 8727         CHR 39 Aa       7.96   1995.79    0.392    46.2     298.1 0.071  MANTE
12597-0349    45.2261         0.077     6.1   149.7    1996.1840  335.1 0.092      

              HJ 4757       508.06   2048.97    0.259    40.5       5.1 0.769  LING 
15234-5919     0.7086         1.009   150.0    91.2    1996.16      4.1 0.765  et al. (*)

 9744         HU 580         21.98   2007.22    0.093    69.8     254.5 0.155  DOCOBO
15416+1941    16.3785         0.209    83.8   260.4    2000.5185  259.0 0.107  & LING

10374         BU 1118 AB     87.72   2024.81    0.947    39.0     238.5 0.574  DOCOBO
17104-1544     4.1040         1.384    95.3   274.9    2002.443   237.8 0.579  & LING

              KUI 93         61.72   2023.11    0.966   153.8     314.6 0.183  DOCOBO
19411+1349     5.8328         0.129    65.4   314.7    2001.731   314.9 0.180  & LING

13964         STF 2695      269.     2016.37    0.431    77.4     251.3 0.330  ALZNER
20320+2548     1.3383         0.773    84.1   174.1    2004.16    251.9 0.344     

16368         HU 785        266.82   2125.41    0.269    87.7     119.0 0.205  OLEVIC &
22550+5132     1.3492         0.285   109.8   108.6    1991.25    118.2 0.208  CVETKOVIC

16904         CHR 149 Aa     22.23   1999.03    0.228    63.8      93.4 0.042  OLEVIC &
23393+4543    16.1915         0.040   150.0   205.7    1999.821    81.5 0.045  CVETKOVIC

(*) LING, PRIETO and MAGDALENA


                                      PAPERS PUBLISHED IN 2004

  1. ABAD, C. et al.: "Reduction of CCD observations of visual binaries using the 'Tepui' 
     function as PSF",  Astron. Astrophys. 416, (2), 811 (2004).

  2. ABT, H.A. & BOONYARAK, C.: "Tidal Effects in Binaries of Various Periods", 
     Astrophys. J. 616, (1), 562 (2004). 

  3. ABT, H.A. & WILLMARTH, D.W.: "The Mass Distribution of Secondaries to Solar-Type 
     Stars", Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 37 (2004).

  4. AHMAD, A.; JEFFERY, C.S. & FULLERTON, A.W.: "Discovery of a spectroscopic binary 
     comprising two hot helium-rich subdwarfs", Astron. Astrophys. 418, (1), 275 (2004).

  5. ALLEN, C. et al.: "Internal Motions of Trapezium Systems", 
     Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 195 (2004). 

  6. ARGYLE, R.: "Observing and measuring visual double stars", Patrick Moore's practical 
     astronomy series. Berlin: Springer, (2004).

  7. BALEGA, I. et al.: "Speckle interferometry of nearby multiple stars. II", 
     Astron. Astrophys. 422, (2), 627 (2004).

  8. BECK, T.L. et al.: "A High Spatial Resolution Infrared View of the T Tauri Multiple 
     System", Astrophys. J. 614, (1), 235 (2004).

  9. BEUZIT, J.-L. et al.: "New neighbours - III. 21 new companions to nearby dwarfs, 
     discovered with adaptive optics", Astron. Astrophys. 425, (3), 997 (2004). 

 10. BOUY, H. et al.: "First determination of the dynamical mass of a binary L dwarf", 
     Astron. Astrophys. 423, (1), 341 (2004).

 11. BRANDNER, W. et al.: "Astrometric monitoring of the binary brown dwarf DENIS-P 
     J1228.2-1547", Astron. Astrophys. 428, (1), 205 (2004).

 12. CARQUILLAT, J.-M. et al.: "Contribution to the search for binaries among Am stars  
     VI. Orbital elements of ten new spectroscopic binaries, implications on tidal 
     effects", Monthly Notices 352, (2), 708 (2004).

 13. COURTOT, J.-F. & ARGYLE, R. W.: "Micrometric measures of double stars from 2003.0 to 
     2004.0", The Webb Soc. Double Star Section Cir. 12, 1 (2004).

 14. DE BECKER, M.; RAUW, G. & MANFROID, J.: "A Spectroscopic study of the non-thermal 
     radio emitter Cyg OB2 #8A: Discovery of a new binary system", 
     Astron. Astrophys. 424, (3), 39L (2004).

 15. DE DONDER, E. & VANBEVEREN, D.: "The influence of binaries on galactic chemical 
     evolution", New Astron. Rev. 48, 861 (2004). 

 16. DOCOBO, J.A. et al.: "Binary Star Speckle Interferometry: Measurements and Orbits", 
     Astron. J. 127, (2), 1181 (2004).

 17. EDELMANN, H. et al.: "Radial velocity curves of nine sdB binary stars", 
     Astrophys. Space Science 291, (3), 315. (2004).

 18. EGGENBERGER, A. et al.: "Statistical properties of an unbiased sample of F7-K 
     binaries: towards the long-period systems", Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 28 (2004).

 19. FEKEL, F.C.: "Increased Multiplicity of 77 Cygni, V815 Herculis, and HD 140122", 
     Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 45 (2004).

 20. FEKEL, F.C.: "The Spectroscopic Orbit of phi Cygni, a System with Two Late-Type 
     Giants, Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 63 (2004).

 21. FEKEL, F.C.: "Chromospherically Active Stars. XXIII. The Triple System HD 7205 = 
     QU Andromedae", Astron. J. 127, (5), 2931 (2004).

 22. FEKEL, F.C. & TOMKIN, J.: "Spectroscopic orbits of potential interferometric 
     binaries", Astron. Nach. 325, (6-8), 649 (2004).

 23. FEKEL, F.C.; HENRY, G.W. & ALSTON, F.M.: "Chromospherically Active Stars. XXII. 
     HD 18955, A Massive K Dwarf Binary", Astron. J. 127, (4), 2303 (2004).

 24. FISHER, J.; SCHRODER, K.-P. & SMITH, R.C.: "Volume-limited Spectroscopic Binary 
     Statistics", Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 65 (2004).

 25. FISHER, R.T.: "A Turbulent Interstellar Medium Origin of the Binary Period 
     Distribution", Astrophys. J. 600, (2), 769 (2004).

 26. FORS, O.; HORCH, E.P. &  NUNEZ, J.: "Application of fast CCD drift scanning to 
     speckle imaging of binary stars", Astron. Astrophys. 420, (1), 397 (2004).      

 27. FORS, O. et al.: "Infrared and visual lunar occultations measurements of stellar 
     diameters and new binary stars detections at the Calar Alto 1.5 m telescope", 
     Astron. Astrophys. 419, (1), 285 (2004).

 28. GRIFFIN, R.F.: "Spectroscopic Binary Orbits from Photoelectric Radial Velocities - 
     Paper 174: HD 14914, HR 2599, and HD 221422", The Observatory 124, 22 (2004).

 29. GRIFFIN, R.F.: "Spectroscopic Binary Orbits from Photoelectric Radial Velocities -  
     Paper 175: BD +48.1048, HR 1736, HR3416, and HD 199378/9", 
     The Observatory 124, 97 (2004).

 30. GRIFFIN, R.F.: "The Orbital Eccentricity of HDE 258878 (OW Gem)", 
     The Observatory 124, 136 (2004).

 31. GRIFFIN, R.F.: "Spectroscopic Binary Orbits from Photoelectric Radial Velocities -  
     Paper 176: HD 142353, HD 164025, HD165007, and HD 209746", 
     The Observatory 124, 190 (2004).

 32. GRIFFIN, R.F.: "Spectroscopic Binary Orbits from Photoelectric Radial Velocities -  
     Paper 177: 85 Pegasi", The Observatory 124, 258 (2004).

 33. GRIFFIN, R.F.: "A Second Look at the Orbit of HR 6388", 
     The Observatory 124, 294 (2004).

 34. GRIFFIN, R.F.: "Spectroscopic Binary Orbits from Photoelectric Radial Velocities -  
     Paper 178: HD 109118, HD 112138, HD 112445, and HD 114941", 
     The Observatory 124, 371 (2004).

 35. GRIFFIN, R.F.: "Spectroscopic Binary Orbits from Photoelectric Radial Velocities -  
     Paper 179: HD 108547, HD 113093, HD 113393, and HD 113638", 
     The Observatory 124, 429 (2004).

 36. HARTKOPF, W.I. & MASON, B.D.: "Addressing confusion in double star nomenclature: The 
     Washington Multiplicity Catalog", Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 83 (2004).

 37. HENRY, G.W.; FEKEL, F.C. &  HENRY, S.M.: "HD 207651: A Triple System with delta Scuti 
     and Ellipsoidal Variations But No gamma Doradus Pulsations", 
     Astron. J. 127, (3), 1720 (2004).

 38. HILLENBRAND, L.A. & WHITE, R.J.: "An Assessment of Dynamical Mass Constraints on 
     PreMain-Sequence Evolutionary Tracks", Astrophys. J. 604, (2), 741 (2004). 

 39. HORCH, E.P.; MEYER, R.D. &  VAN ALTENA, W.F.: "Speckle Observations of Binary Stars 
     with the WIYN Telescope. IV. Differential Photometry", 
     Astron. J. 127, (3), 1727 (2004).

 40. JIANG, I.-G. & YEH, L.-C.: "The Modified Restricted Three Body Problems", 
     Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 152 (2004).     

 41. JORISSEN, A. et al.: "Spectroscopic Binaries among a Complete Sample of Hipparcos M 
     Giants", Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 71 (2004).    

 42. KAISLER, D. et al.: "HD 199143 and HD 358623: Two recently identified members of the 
     beta Pictoris moving group",  Astron. Astrophys. 414, (1), 175 (2004).

 43. KARATA Y. et al.: "Kinematics of chromospherically active binaries and evidence of an 
     orbital period decrease in binary evolution", Monthly Notices 349, (3), 1069 (2004).

 44. KAYE, A.B.; GRAY, R.O. & GRIFFIN, R.F.: "On the Spectroscopic Nature of HD 221866", 
     Pub. Astron. Soc. of the Pacific 116, (820), 558 (2004).

 45. KONACKI, M. & LANE, B.F.: "The Visual Orbits of the Spectroscopic Binaries HD 6118 
     and HD 27483 from the Palomar Testbed Interferometer", 
     Astrophys. J. 610, (1), 443 (2004).

 46. LAMPENS, P.; PRIEUR, J.-L. & ARGYLE, R.: "Infrared differential photometry of 
     selected orbital binaries", Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 75 (2004).    

 47. LANE, B.F. & MUTERSPAUGH, M.W.: "Differential Astrometry of Subarcsecond Scale 
     Binaries at the Palomar Testbed Interferometer", Astrophys. J. 601, (2), 1129 (2004).

 48. LEVATO, H. et al.: "Spectroscopic binaries in southern open clusters", 
     Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 141 (2004). 

 49. LING, J.F.: "Preliminary Orbits for Eight Visual Binaries", 
     Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 153, (2), 545. (2004).

 50. LING, J.F.; MAGDALENA, P. & PRIETO, C.: "The Distribution of separations of DMSA 
     Hipparcos Catalogue", Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 77 (2004).

 51. LUHMAN, K.L.: "The First Discovery of a Wide Binary Brown Dwarf", 
     Astrophys. J. 614, (1), 398 (2004).

 52. MASON, B.D. et al.: "Speckle Interferometry at the US Naval Observatory. IX", 
     Astron. J. 127, (1), 539 (2004). 

 53. MASON, B.D. et al.: "Speckle Interferometry at the US Naval Observatory. X", 
     Astron. J. 128, (6), 3012 (2004). 

 54. MONNIER, J. D. et al.: "First Results with the IOTA3 Imaging Interferometer: The 
     Spectroscopic Binaries  Virginis and WR 140", Astrophys. J. Lett. 602, (1), L57 (2004).

 55. NURMI, P.: "Observational Properties of Synthetic Visual Binary Catalog", 
     Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 263 (2004). 

 56. PARSONS, S. B.: " New and Confirmed Triple Systems with Luminous Cool Primaries and 
     Hot Companions", Astron. J. 127, (5), 2915 (2004).  

 57. OLEVIC, D. & CVETKOVIC, Z.: "Orbits of 10 interferometric binary systems calculated 
     by using the improved Koval'skij method", Astron. Astrophys. 415, (1), 259 (2004).

 58. PEREIRA, C. B. : "The nature of Hen 3-1312: A post-AGB star in a binary system", 
     Astron. Astrophys. 413, (3), 1009 (2004).

 59. PEREZ, M. R. et al.: "A young and complex binary star - HD 144432", 
     Astron. Astrophys. 416, (2), 647 (2004).

 60. POURBAIX, D. et al.: "Color-Induced Displacement double stars in SDSS", 
     Astron. Astrophys. 423, (2), 755 (2004).

 61. POURBAIX, D.; JANCART, S. & BOFFIN, H.M.J.: "What can the SB9 database do for you?", 
     Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 265 (2004). 

 62. POURBAIX, D. et al.: "SB9: The ninth catalogue of spectroscopic binary orbits", 
     Astron. Astrophys. 424, (2), 727 (2004).

 63. POVEDA, A. & ALLEN, C.: "The distribution of separations of wide binaries of 
     different ages", Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 49 (2004). 

 64. RAMM, D.J.; SKULJAN, J. & HEARNSHAW, J. B.: " The orbit of a new double-lined 
     spectroscopic binary: HD 161958", The Observatory 124, 167 (2004).

 65. RAUW, G. & DE BECKER, M. : "Early-type stars in the young open cluster IC 1805. I. 
     The SB2 system BD+60 497 and the probably single stars BD+60 501 and BD+60 513",  
     Astron. Astrophys. 421, (2), 693 (2004).

 66. RAUW, G. et al.: " WR 20a: A massive cornerstone binary system comprising two extreme 
     early-type stars", Astron. Astrophys. 420, (2), L15 (2004).

 67. REIPURTH, B. & ASPIN, C.: "The FU Orionis Binary System and the Formation of Close 
     Binaries", Astrophys. J. Lett. 608, (1), L65 (2004).

 68. RICHICHI, A.: "Interferometry and Lunar Occultations: Status and Prospects of 
     Ground-based Milliarcsecond Resolution Observations ", Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 247 (2004).    

 69. RUBINOV, A.V.: "Dynamical Evolution of Multiple Stars: Influence of the Initial 
     Parameters of the System", Astron. Reports 48, (1), 45 (2004).

 70. SCARFE, C.D.; GRIFFIN , R.F. & GRIFFIN, R.E.M.: "The Double-Lined Spectroscopic 
     Binary HR 6046", Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 79 (2004). 

 71. SIMON, M. & PRATO, L.: "The Double-lined Spectroscopic Binary Haro 1-14c", 
     Astrophys. J. Lett. 613, (1), L69 (2004).

 72. SKULJAN, J. ; RAMM, D.J. & HEARNSHAW, J.B.: "Accurate orbital parameters for the 
     bright southern spectroscopic binary zeta Trianguli Australis - an interesting case 
     of a near-circular orbit", Monthly Notices 352, (2), 975 (2004). 

 73. STRIGACHEV, A. & LAMPENS, P.: "Multicolour CCD measurements of nearby visual double 
     stars. II", Astron. Astrophys. 422, (3), 1023 (2004).

 74. STASSUN, K.G. et al.: "Dynamical Mass Constraints on Low-Mass PreMain-Sequence 
     Stellar Evolutionary Tracks: An Eclipsing Binary in Orion with a 1.0 Msun Primary and 
     a 0.7 Msun Secondary", Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 151, (2), 357. (2004).

 75. TAMAZIAN, V.S.: "Orbit of T TAU Ba-Bb and Mass Estimate for its Infrared Companion", 
     Astron. J. 127, (4), 2378 (2004).

 76. TOKOVININ, A.: "Statistics of multiple stars", Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 7 (2004).

 77. TOKUNAGA, A.T. et al.: "A Subarcsecond  Companion to the  T Tauri Star AS 353B", 
     Astron. J. 127, (1), 444 (2004).

 78. VALTONEN, M.: "Three-body problem and multiple stellar systems", 
     Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 147 (2004). 

 79. VANBEVEREN, D.: "The effects of binaries on population studies", 
     Rev. Mex. A. C. 20, 85 (2004).

 80. WANG, H. et al.: " FU Orionis: A Binary Star?",
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 81. YOO, J.; CHANAME, J. & GOULD, A.: "The End of the MACHO Era: Limits on Halo Dark 
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 82. ZAPATERO, M. R. & MARTIN, E. L.: " A CCD imaging search for wide metal-poor 
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 83. ZAPATERO, M. R. et al.: "Dynamical Masses of the Binary Brown Dwarf GJ 569 Bab", 
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 84. ZINNECKER, H.; KOHLER, R. & JAHREISS, H.: "Binary statistics among population II 
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 85. ZUCKER, S. et al.: "Multi-order TODCOR: Application to observations taken with the 
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 86. ZWAHLEN, N. et al.: " A purely geometric distance to the binary star Atlas, a member 
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 87. ZWITTER, T. & MUNARI, U.: "Spectroscopy, Photometry and Micro-arcsec Astrometry of 
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     Rev. Mex. A. C. 21, 251 (2004). 



                                         NOTE 
Dear colleagues, 

William H. Hartkopf (President of the IAU Comm. 26 and Webmaster of the webpage) and we 
ourselves have delivery problems with the e-mail addresses for the following Commission 
members:   (note: email address removed from web version for security reasons - wih)

- John L. Hershey    
- Bambang Hidayat    (email okay)
- Pavel Kroupa       (new email address received)
- Claude Meyer       
- Joseph I. Smak     
- Wean-Shun Tsay     

So we ask anyone who knows the current e-mail addresses of these members to please get 
in touch with us.

Thanks in anticipation.
The Editors. 



                                    ANNOUNCEMENT 

     A MODEL OF THE ORIENTATION OF THE ORBITAL PLANES OF THE VISUAL DOUBLE STARS

A research made at the Observatoire Royal de Belgique some thirty-five years ago by J. 
Dommanget and O. Nys, has shown some specific space organisation of the orbital planes 
of the visual double stars on the contrary of what was thought since more than a century. 
A tri-dimensional model based on 70 stars showed this organisation very clearly especialy 
in the Sun's environment. Twenty years later a second research (1982-1987) concerning 145 
stars, confirmed this result which was observed with more precision on a second model 
that was exhibited, during the IAU Colloquium n.97 "Wide components in double and 
multiple stars" held at Brussels in 1987. (See: Astrophysics and Space Science, 142, 1988, 
pp. 171-176).

A short presentation of this model has recently been given in the Bulletin de la 
Commission des Etoiles doubles de la Societe Astronomique de France, n.42 of 
march 2004, pp. 13-14 and an historical synthesis of the various researches made on this 
subject since 1838 by J. H. MADLER will appear in Ciel et Terre n.121, 1, 2005.

On these occasions and on that of a few talks on the subject, it was decided to transfer 
this model from the Observatoire Royal de Belgique to the Observatoire de la Cote d'Azur, 
France  where it will be preserved. In the framework of the project "Museal", near to the 
historical refractors of the Nice Observatory, this model will be integrated in the 
presentation devoted to the double star researches.

J. Dommanget.



     
                       GEOFFREY G. DOUGLASS (1942 - 2005)

We have the sad duty to report the passing of longtime Commission 26 member 
Geoffrey G. Douglass, who died 15 February 2005 after a long illness.

Geoff worked at the U.S. Naval Observatory for over 30 years, until his retirement
in January 1999.  Much of his work involved observations of visual double stars, 
from collaborating on the photographic program in the late 1960's to development 
of the USNO's speckle interferometry program throughout the 1990's. A brief summary 
of his work can be found at http://ad.usno.navy.mil/wds/history/douglass.html .

Geoff collaborated with Charles Worley from 1968 until Charles' death in December 
1997, writing much of the double star software and assisting in the production of 
the observatory's double star catalogs. It was often joked that the "W" and "D" in 
the WDS (officially the "Washington Double Star" catalog) really stood for 
"Worley" and "Douglass".

During his last year at the observatory he oversaw the publication of over 10,000 
speckle observations, and guided the recently hired Brian Mason (Charles' replacement) 
in the management of the double star program. He continued to have an interest in the 
activities at the USNO even during his long hospitalizaton, and was regularly sought 
out for his knowledge on instrumentation and earlier observations.

Those of you who knew Geoff also knew he battled illness for many years. He 
was a symbol of the worthiness of organ donation, living for some two decades
following a kidney transplant, before succumbing to complications following kidney
failure. 

Geoff is survived by his wife Doris, with whom he shared a love of cats and
classical music, as well as passionate religous beliefs. He will be sorely missed by 
his many friends and colleagues.

William Hartkopf and Brian Mason.
U.S. Naval Observatory.


***********************************************************************

The deadline for contributions to Information Circular No. 156 is:
     
                            June 15th 2005


         J. A. Docobo (oadoco@usc.es)
         J. F. Ling (oafana@usc.es)
         Tel: +34 981592747
         Fax: +34 981597054

         Observatorio Astronomico "R. M. Aller"
         P. O. Box 197
         Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
         SPAIN
         http://www.usc.es/astro


ISSN: 1024-7769




            INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION COMMISSION 26 (DOUBLE STARS)                 
                    INFORMATION CIRCULAR No. 156  (JUNE 2005)                   


                                    NEW ORBITS                               

  ADS            Name        P (yr)      T       e      W(2000)      2005      Author
 RA 2000 DEC    n (deg)      a (")   i (deg)   w (deg)  Last ob.     2006      
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  328         HU 506        169.29   1955.06    0.163    30.1      87.4 0.112  DOCOBO & 
00243+5201     2.1265         0.214    64.8   311.8    2004.9902   90.8 0.109  ANDRADE

  490         HO 212 AB       6.89   2000.98    0.773   149.0     268.2 0.293  MASON & 
00352-0336    52.2185         0.241    49.4   283.8    2004.923   283.2 0.278  HARTKOPF
  
  701         A 1808        112.40   1975.99    0.827   163.1     197.2 0.182  DOCOBO & 
00516+2237     3.2029         0.121    17.8   231.9    2004.9903  197.9 0.184  ANDRADE

              HJ 3423       857.0    1763.50    0.384    10.3     320.4 5.00   SCARDIA & 
01158-6853     0.4201         5.960   127.1   284.9    1999.795   320.0 5.00   PANSECCHI

              COU 750        58.18   2000.40    0.752    23.2      24.7 0.255  DOCOBO 
01450+2703     6.1877         0.356    80.9   247.4    2004.9903   25.9 0.282  & LING
 
              MLR 377       161.26   1918.14    0.115   154.1     145.9 0.570  PAVLOVIC & 
02231+7021     2.2324         0.587   104.3   199.1    2001.9882  145.4 0.560  TODOROVIC
        
              WOR 2          24.07   1987.35    0.296   100.6     100.1 0.399  DOCOBO & 
02288+3215    14.9564         0.361    82.9   122.5    2004.9903  101.6 0.372  TAMAZIAN

 3608         A 1844 AB      25.21   1950.01    0.291   202.      304.4 0.238  MASON & 
05017+2640    14.2800         0.259    17.0     3.     2001.5197  318.7 0.257  HARTKOPF

 4208         STF 749       986.6    1756.85    0.411   164.0     322.2 1.15   SCARDIA & 
05371+2655     0.3649         1.015   153.3    70.9    2005.215   322.0 1.16   et al. (*)

 4392         STT 118       508.02   1805.61    0.015   136.3     319.2 0.074  PAVLOVIC & 
05484+2052     0.7086         0.646    89.7   121.1    1993.7628  319.5 0.066  TODOROVIC

10074         GNT 1        1217.54   1273.67    0.079    91.0     276.5 2.677  PAVLOVIC & 
16294-2626     0.2957         2.928    80.8     0.0    1997.512   276.6 2.669  TODOROVIC

14648         BU 368 AB     251.06   1958.09    0.554    91.6     279.1 0.103  PAVLOVIC & 
21074-0814     1.4339         0.500    88.6   128.6    2001.8677  279.9 0.095  TODOROVIC

15398         HU 972 AB     152.20   1962.25    0.637    10.5     249.2 0.309  MANTE 
21511+6650     2.3652         0.304    48.1    93.0    1997.6930  250.3 0.310

              COU 432 BC     29.53   1986.97    0.586   178.4       5.3 0.181  MANTE 
21543+1943    12.1910         0.120   125.0   335.0    1997.7160    2.7 0.178

15962         BU 701        554.46   2288.31    0.139   118.1     185.8 0.941  CVETKOVIC 
22281+1215     0.6493         1.400   124.1   105.4    1999.855   185.0 0.945  & OLEVIC

15992         HU 388        368.59   1934.94    0.761    18.2      60.5 0.495  CVETKOVIC 
22302+2228     0.9767         0.431    34.4   256.5    2003.9568   60.8 0.498  & OLEVIC

              WRH 37 AaB    159.66   2006.34    0.551     4.2     211.6 0.102  OLEVIC & 
23019+4220     2.2547         0.322   114.7   132.0    2000.6171  204.7 0.115  CVETKOVIC

              BLA 12 Aa       8.3    1982.43    0.550    54.0     121.0 0.040  OLEVIC & 
23019+4220    43.3735         0.040   179.9    55.7    1997.518    51.4 0.021  CVETKOVIC

(*) SCARDIA, PRIEUR, PANSECCHI, ARGYLE



     
                         RICHARD L. "DICK" WALKER (1938 - 2005) 

We have the sad duty to report the death of a member of Commission 26. Richard L. "Dick" 
Walker died March 30, 2005, after having been in declining health for the last couple years.

Dick was born March 9, 1938 in Hampton, Iowa and earned degrees in astronomy and physics 
from the University of Iowa. He worked for the U.S. Naval Observatory (both in Washington, 
DC and Flagstaff, Arizona) for over 30 years, before his retirement in 1999. From the mid 
1960s through the late 1970s much of Dick's time was devoted to the measurement of binary 
stars, observing with the 12" and 26" refractors in Washington and later the 40" and 61"
reflectors in Flagstaff. He also made many trips to Lick Observatory to work with the 36"
Clark Refractor there. During this time he consulted with Charles Worley (who was 
observing on the 26") to make sure time was well spent examining doubles which could not 
be observed in Washington. This period of observing overlapped with the early years of 
speckle interferometry, and Dick's observations, made with the largest telescope used for 
micrometry at the time, were very important to ascertain the veracity of this new technique.

He was a studious and very careful observer of doubles and made over 8000 measures, resulting 
in almost 3000 mean positions. While measuring known systems for orbital analysis, he 
discovered 22 pairs (mostly additional components to these systems) and ascertained the 
physicality of these new pairs. He also calculated orbits to four fastmoving pairs, and his 
highlighting the rapid motion of these systems resulted in them being placed on many programs 
and led to the more definitive orbits of today.

Dick also ventured into other areas of astronomy, among them discovering the moon of Saturn, 
Epimetheus, in December 1966, with the USNO Flagstaff 61" astrometric reflector.

Dick is survived by his wife, Patricia, six children, ten grandchildren, and two 
greatgrandchildren, who were no doubt a great inspiration in his many interests, among them, 
writing children's literature. He will be sorely missed by his many friends and colleagues.

A few photos of Dick may be found on the USNO double star website at 
http://ad.usno.navy.mil/wds/history/walker.html.

William Hartkopf & Brian Mason. 
U.S. Naval Observatory.




                                          ANNOUNCEMENTS 


                              CHANGES IN THE DOUBLE STAR DATABASE 

We have recently made changes in the Washington Double Star Catalog and some of its related 
catalogs which we wanted to bring to your attention.

(1) The format of the WDS has been altered slightly. The column for number of mean positions 
    can now accommodate values up to 9,999 (the largest number in the catalog currently is 
    STF2272, with 1,642 published means). We have reordered the proper motion columns, added 
    an additional column for notes, and increased the accuracy of the precise coordinate by 
    an order of magnitude in both axes, in order to be consistent with the WMC. Currently 
    greater than 96the WDS have precise coordinates.

(2) We have continued our effort to match and extract double star data from wide-field single 
    epoch astrometric catalogs. To date, measures have been extracted for 40,209 pairs from 
    the 2MASS Catalog and an additional 70,057 from the 144 astrometric catalogs used for the 
    computation of Tycho-2 proper motion. This has helped increase the size of the WDS database 
    to 711,174 mean positions of 100,784 systems. The next big task will be the matching and 
    extraction of UCAC data, following that project's final astrometric reduction and catalog 
    publication, scheduled for 2006.

(3) The Sixth Orbit Catalog now also includes formal errors to the orbital elements when listed 
   in the original publication.

(4) Data request software now provides figures illustrating all WDS data for systems with
    published orbital elements.

(5) Also scheduled for release in 2006 is the Second USNO Double Star CD. This will include 
   current updates of all our catalogs and several other enhancements (such as new lists of 
   "neglected doubles"). We anticipate no other format changes to the Double Star Catalogs in 
   the foreseeable future.

As always, we appreciate notification of any errors or missing data in our catalogs. Tables 
(preferably electronic) of newly published data are also most welcome.

Brian D. Mason, William I. Hartkopf & Gary L. Wycoff
 U.S. Naval Observatory



                                JOURNAL OF DOUBLE STAR OBSERVATIONS 

R. Kent Clark and Rod Mollise of the The University of South Alabama are editing a new 
publication called the "Journal of Double Star Observations." According to their web page it 
is a "quarterly journal of amateur astronomy dedicated to the observation and study of double 
and binary stars." The first issue in pdf format and solicitation for articles and comments is 
available at their web site :
   http://www.southalabama.edu/physics/jdso/ 
Congratulations to Kent and Rod!

Brian D. Mason 
U.S. Naval Observatory



                                 ENGLISH VERSION OF LIADA CIRCULAR #2 

The Amateur Double Star Section of LIADA (American-Spanish League of Astronomy) has edited their 
Circular #2 (in english) where there have been published 367 relative astrometry measures for 67 
visual double stars (using CCD images, Digitized Sky Survey and Two Micron All Sky Survey images) 
most of them are very neglected or unconfirmed pairs that many have not been resolved for more 
than 180 years. These measures in addition to BVIJHK optical-to-infrared photometry (from Tycho-2 
and 2MASS), kinematical data and historical relative astrometry (from WDS) allow us to obtain 
spectral types and luminosity classes, photometric parallaxes, relative motions and other 
astrophysical data to classify visual double stars as physical (11Spectral types were estimated 
using professional color-spectral type relations and several reduced proper motion diagrams. 
Preliminary study results in a mean difference of only 0.5 subclasses of spectral type with 
respect to professional results.

Those interested in the circular please contact Francisco Rica at frica0@terra.es. 



                  NEW BINARY CANDIDATE DISCOVERY BY LIADA'S DOUBLE STAR SECTION:
                                      WDS 01116+2823 = FMR 5

LIADA's Double Star Section reports a new binary candidate, catalogued as GSC1753- 1506, 
composed of 12.0 and 13.5 magnitudes stars with an angular separation of 4.62 arcsec. at 
direction 294.4 degrees. Analyzing 2MASS JHK photometry and Tycho-2 data the binary is 
composed of G9V and K5V stars located at 172 pc. The similar spectrophotometric parallaxes of 
the components, obtained by us, in addition to the results of several professional criterions 
give us strong evidence that point to a physical association of both components. Nevertheless 
it is necessary to have more relative astrometric data to confirm the physical nature. The 
expected semi mayor axis is 1,194 A.U. and the approximate orbital period could be 35,000 years.

Francisco Manuel Rica Romero (Coordinator) 
LIADA Double Star Section 
FRICA0@terra.es



*********************************************************************** 

The deadline for contributions to Information Circular No. 157 is:
     
                            October 15th 2005


         J. A. Docobo (oadoco@usc.es)
         J. F. Ling (oafana@usc.es)
         Tel: +34 981592747
         Fax: +34 981597054

         Observatorio Astronomico "R. M. Aller"
         P. O. Box 197
         Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
         SPAIN
         http://www.usc.es/astro


ISSN: 1024-7769




            INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION COMMISSION 26 (DOUBLE STARS)                 
                   INFORMATION CIRCULAR No. 157  (OCTOBER 2005)                   


                                    NEW ORBITS                               

  ADS            Name        P (yr)      T       e      W(2000)      2005      Author
 RA 2000 DEC    n (deg)      a (")   i (deg)   w (deg)  Last ob.     2006      
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 1530         A 2407        136.98   2026.29    0.178   151.0     304.8 0.514  MANTE 
01554+0257     2.6282         0.597    41.9   221.4    1991.75    307.4 0.515

 1613         A 1813 AB-C   310.51   2210.24    0.636   168.5     204.7 1.595  NOVAKOVIC 
02022+3643     1.1594         1.790   113.2   135.5    2001.786   204.3 1.611  & TODOROVIC

 2271         A 1529        105.48   1966.00    0.731   165.4     163.0 0.251  DOCOBO & 
03006+4753     3.4130         0.159    98.0   208.1    2004.99053 162.8 0.251  TAMAZIAN

 3323         HU 610         59.25   2004.71    0.383    98.1     257.2 0.102  DOCOBO & 
04364+3413     6.0760         0.176    46.2   146.8    2004.99067 268.0 0.108  TAMAZIAN

              COU 2031       20.46   2008.93    0.273   148.1     222.4 0.022  DOCOBO & 
04464+4221    17.5953         0.152    81.8   188.4    2004.99070 303.4 0.044  TAMAZIAN
 
 6828         A 551 AB       54.70   2001.80    0.429    62.4     290.4 0.027  DOCOBO 
08285-0231     6.5814         0.283    83.7   211.0    2004.991    22.6 0.034  & LING

              KUI 44        100.76   2000.49    0.867    29.4     254.3 0.037  DOCOBO & 
09498+2111     3.5729         0.195   104.7   335.3    2004.9912  245.1 0.050  TAMAZIAN

              KUI 44        113.1    2000.31    0.887    27.9     257.3 0.042  LAMPENS 
09498+2111     3.1830         0.208   107.5   332.0    2004.9912  249.1 0.055  et al. (*)

              SEE 119        16.54   2002.72    0.746    28.2     337.2 0.274  DOCOBO 
10373-4814    21.7654         0.368   129.1   283.2    1997.0903  322.7 0.311  & LING

              KUI 84         14.86   2001.48    0.528   171.3     335.2 0.175  DOCOBO 
17584+0428    24.2261         0.161    59.8    10.4    1998.7766  342.3 0.210  & LING

11311         STT 353 AB    307.8    2116.6     0.752    70.3     269.1 0.467  ANDRADE 
18208+7120     1.1696         0.965    95.6   275.0    1998.679   268.8 0.472

11336         STF 2323 AB  3962.50   5671.40    0.553   179.9     348.9 3.750  NOVAKOVIC 
18239+5848     0.0909         6.621   107.7   128.0    2000.29    348.8 3.749  & TODOROVIC

11635         STF 2382 AB  1804.41   2091.43    0.691   162.1     348.8 2.384  NOVAKOVIC 
18443+3940     0.1995         4.742   121.2   255.5    2003.806   348.5 2.372  & TODOROVIC

12656         HU 679        103.40   1977.30    0.579    28.0     251.7 0.369  ANDRADE 
19351+5038     3.4816         0.315    37.3    81.0    1996.6903  253.4 0.372
 
              HEI 7          31.00   1997.05    0.684   176.2     221.0 0.583  DOCOBO & 
20374+7536    11.6092         0.485    39.3   257.7    1999.8825  225.4 0.604  ANDRADE

17050         STT 510 AB   1522.90   1824.50    0.069    96.4     301.8 0.579  NOVAKOVIC 
23516+4205     0.2364         0.792   117.2    85.3    2002.834   301.6 0.581  & TODOROVIC

(*) LAMPENS, FR'EMAT & HENSBERGE




                                         ANNOUNCEMENTS 


                    MULTIPLE STAR CATALOG (MSC) HAS A NEW ON-LINE INTERFACE 

                       http://www.ctio.noao.edu/ atokovin/stars/index.php 

As of August 2005, MSC contains 1024 physical systems of multiplicity from 3 to 6. It is 
expected that the on-line version will be updated regularly. Please, send corrections or 
information on the new systems to A. Tokovinin, atokovinin@ctio.noao.edu.

Andrei Tokovinin 
Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory



                                        IAU SYMPOSIUM 240 

We are proud to announce IAU Symposium 240, "Binary Stars as Critical Tools & Tests in 
Contemporary Astrophysics", to be held 22-25 August 2006, during the International 
Astronomical Union's 26th General Assembly in Prague, Czech Republic.

We believe this is the first major meeting in recent memory bringing together members of 
both the "wide" and "close" binary communities; it is therefore appropriate that the 
meeting be co-sponsored by Commissions 26 (Double and Multiple Stars) and 42 (Close 
Binary Stars) with the support of 11 other commissions and working groups.

Topics to be included range from common proper motion pairs and other "fragile" binaries 
to contact binaries and star/brown-dwarf and star/planet systems, from longbaseline 
interferometry to theories of binary formation and anticipated results of Gaia and other 
large-scale surveys. Our goal is to have a meeting which will appeal to all binary and 
multiple star star researchers, where astronomers in different binary star field may 
find areas of common interest.

Please see the symposium website, http://ad.usno.navy.mil/iaus240/, for a preliminary 
program and other information concerning this meeting.

William Hartkopf, Petr Harmanec and Ed Guinan Symposium 240 co-chairs



*********************************************************************** 

The deadline for contributions to Information Circular No. 158 is:
     
                            February 15th 2006


         J. A. Docobo (oadoco@usc.es)
         J. F. Ling (oafana@usc.es)
         Tel: +34 981592747
         Fax: +34 981597054

         Observatorio Astronomico "R. M. Aller"
         P. O. Box 197
         Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
         SPAIN
         http://www.usc.es/astro


ISSN: 1024-7769




            INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION COMMISSION 26 (DOUBLE STARS)                 
                   INFORMATION CIRCULAR No. 158  (FEBRUARY 2006)                   


                                    NEW ORBITS                               

  ADS            Name        P (yr)      T       e      W(2000)      2006      Author
 RA 2000 DEC    n (deg)      a (")   i (deg)   w (deg)  Last ob.     2007      
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  463         HO 3           64.53   1984.84    0.290   116.5     169.5 0.205  CVETKOVIC        
00335+4006     5.5784         0.388   111.6   143.1    1996.691   163.1 0.225     

  684         BU 232 AB     200.96   1914.52    0.621    64.9     250.5 0.85   SCARDIA
00504+5038     1.7914         0.531    31.9    11.4    2006.025   250.9 0.86   et al. (*)

  836         A 2901       1517.34   1950.56    0.621    48.4      60.6 0.409  NOVAKOVIC
01015+6922     0.2373         0.990    69.3   330.2    2001.8352   61.0 0.408     

 1345         A 1           357.02   2205.28    0.299    76.1     249.7 0.818  NOVAKOVIC
01424-0645     1.0083         0.641    50.8     1.9    2003.9600  250.1 0.819     
 
 1380         STF 148       625.27   2013.18    0.689   147.9     242.3 0.136  NOVAKOVIC
01461+6349     0.5757         1.081    67.6   121.6    1997.03    252.3 0.137     

 1729         A 2013         34.66   2005.69    0.593    91.8     282.7 0.130  DOCOBO     
02159+0638    10.3866         0.346   112.3   137.6    2004.9904  265.8 0.165  & TAMAZIAN

 2799         STT 65         61.00   1998.39    0.635    27.3     183.1 0.087  DOCOBO
03503+2535     5.9016         0.411    84.3   340.5    2004.9906  190.0 0.127  & LING

              GLE 1         480.     1990.90    0.630    92.3     184.4 0.329  DOCOBO
04163-6057     0.7500         0.890    34.1    35.4    2001.8923  187.8 0.336  & LING

 3326         A 1840 AB     128.58   2003.60    0.551    62.4     332.5 0.071  CVETKOVIC
04362+0814     2.7998         0.222   133.0    62.8    1996.869   317.5 0.075     

              RST 3401      159.41   1966.85    0.473    96.2     273.6 0.420  NOVAKOVIC
04374-0951     2.2583         0.354   143.3    46.2    1991.25    272.5 0.424    

 3434         HU 612        309.87   1903.76    0.424     3.8     357.6 0.652  NOVAKOVIC
04478+5318     1.1618         0.502    40.3   200.9    2004.924   358.1 0.655    

 4020         A 848         534.41   2425.78    0.315    19.8     174.5 0.295  NOVAKOVIC
05255-0033     0.6736         0.400    66.3    17.2    2002.136   175.0 0.298    

 4229         BU 1240 AB     52.74   1974.93    0.653   127.1     333.9 0.207  RICA
05386+3030     6.8266         0.154   124.2   309.1    2004.095   332.3 0.209    

 4376         STF 3115      976.83   2131.60    0.338    48.8     338.6 0.790  NOVAKOVIC
05491+6248      0.3685        1.350   131.8  159.4     2003.12    337.9 0.787    

 5296         STF 945      2679.33   4486.86    0.534    67.4     328.9 0.471  NOVAKOVIC
06404+4058      0.1344        2.307    72.1  186.7     2002.19    329.7 0.471    

 5726         A 1959         31.85   1988.36    0.008   172.3     166.3 0.255  DOCOBO     
07036+3941     11.3030        0.259    63.3   147.7    2004.9911  171.4 0.261  & TAMAZIAN

 6381         STF 1146      570.44   2054.74    0.610    12.5     347.4 1.231  NOVAKOVIC
07479-1212      0.6311        2.409   113.9   149.9    2003.253   346.6 1.200    

 6825         A 550          21.23   1981.30    0.866    71.6     195.9 0.111  CVETKOVIC
08277-0425      16.9589       0.099   149.6   82.1     1996.867   190.8 0.125     

              COU 1897      165.00   1985.80    0.334   168.1     241.3 0.107  DOCOBO     
08585+3548     2.1818         0.255    61.1     2.3    2004.9911  247.0 0.106  & TAMAZIAN
 
              COU  1569     117.00   1997.78    0.494    60.7     253.0 0.135  DOCOBO     
10059+3412     3.0769         0.237    69.3   140.1    2004.9913  255.9 0.133  & TAMAZIAN

 7730         STF 1426 AB  2208.98   2011.15    0.484   127.0     310.3 0.921  NOVAKOVIC
10205+0626     0.1630         1.794    61.1   189.4    2004.304   310.5 0.920     

              FIN 367 Aa    116.27   2052.18    0.470   155.0       6.1 0.197  MANTE
12064-6543     3.0963         0.222   112.4   286.8    1993.0930    4.8 0.201      

 9744         HU 580 AB      21.97   2006.98    0.084    70.3     260.7 0.106  DOCOBO
15416+1940    16.3860         0.210    83.2   256.3    2001.5591  276.9 0.050  & LING
 
11524         HU 198        877.14   2020.98    0.446   130.1     131.0 0.462  NOVAKOVIC
18384+0850     0.4104         0.822   103.7    14.1    2004.2073  130.7 0.461    

11956         STF 2437      804.60   2132.95    0.478   114.9      11.4 0.58   SCARDIA
19019+1910     0.4474         0.910   131.0   212.1    2005.662    10.8 0.58   et al. (*)

              LAB 6 Aa       83.     1997.99    0.732    46.4      44.2 0.123  ANDRADE
21287+7034     4.3374         0.195    87.3   194.6    1998.777    44.5 0.140     

16731         STT 495       300.     1935.2    0.980    138.6     121.6 0.364  ALZNER
23241+5732     1.2000         0.296    71.0   142.4    2005.80    121.7 0.367    


(*) SCARDIA, PRIEUR, PANSECCHI, ARGYLE & BASSO





                                PAPERS PUBLISHED IN 2005


1. ABT, H. A.: "Observed Orbital Eccentricities". Astrophys. J. 629 (1), 507 (2005).

2. ALZNER, A.: "Micrometer Measurements from 2002.97 to 2004.94". The Webb Soc. Double 
   Star Section Cir. 13, 6 (2005).

3. ANCONELLI, B. et al.: "Restoration of interferometric images - IV. An algorithm for 
   super-resolution of stellar systems". Astron. Astrophys. 431 (2), 747 (2005).

4. ARGYLE, R.: "Micrometer Measurements from 2004.0 to 2005.0". The Webb Soc. Double 
   Star Section Cir. 13, 1 (2005).

5. BAKIS, V. et al.: "Astrometric Solution of the Multiple System Xy Leo". Astrophys. 
   Space Science 296 (1-4), 131. (2005).

6. BALEGA, I. I. et al.: "Orbits of new Hipparcos binaries. I." Astron. Astrophys. 433 
   (2), 591 (2005).

7. BALEGA, Y. Y.; LEUSHIN, V. V. & WEIGELT, G.: "Atmospheric Elemental Abundances for 
   the Components of the Multiple System ADS 11061. 41 Draconis." Astron. Reports 49 
   (3), 217 (2005)

8. BALEGA, Y. Y.; LEUSHIN, V. V. & KUZNETSOV, M. K: "Atmospheric Chemical Abundances of 
   the Components of the Quadruple System ADS 11061. 40 Draconis." Astron. Reports 49 
   (12), 984 (2005)

9. BODEN, A. F.; TORRES, G. &  HUMMEL, C. A.: "Testing Stellar Models with an Improved 
   Physical Orbit for 12 Bootis". Astrophys. J. 627 (1), 464 (2005).

10. BODEN, A. F. et al.: "Dynamical Masses for Low-Mass PreMain-Sequence Stars: A 
    Preliminary Physical Orbit for HD 98800 B". Astrophys. J. 635 (1), 442 (2005).

11. BONNELL, I. A.  & BATE, M. R.: "Binary systems and stellar mergers in massive star 
    formation". Monthly Notices 362 (3), 915 (2005)

12. BOUY, H. et al.: "A possible third component in the L dwarf binary system 
    DENIS-P J020529.0-115925 discovered with the HUBBLE space telescope". Astron. J. 
    129 (1), 511 (2005).

13. BRANHAM, R. L.: "Calculating the Apparent Orbit of a Double Star". Astrophys. J. 622 
    (1), 613 (2005).

14. CARQUILLAT, J.-M.; PRIEUR, J.-L. & UDRY, S.: "Contribution to the study of F-G-K-M 
    binaries. X. HD 54901, HD 120544 and HD 123280, three nearby F-type spectroscopic
    binaries". Astron. Nach. 326 (1), 31 (2005).

15. CARQUILLAT, J.-M.; PRIEUR, J.-L. & GINESTET, N.: "Contribution to the study of 
    composite spectra  X. HD 3210/1, 27395, 39847, 70826 and 218257/8: five new 
    spectroscopic binaries in multiple systems". Monthly Notices 360 (2), 718 (2005)

16. DAVIS, J. et al.: "Orbital parameters, masses and distance to beta Centauri determined 
    with the Sydney University Stellar Interferometer and high-resolution spectroscopy". 
    Monthly Notices 356 (4), 1362 (2005)

17. FEKEL. F. C. & W. HENRY, G. W.: "Chromospherically active stars. XXIV. The giant 
    single-lined binaries  HD 37824, HD 181809, and HD 217188". Astron. J. 129 (3), 1669 
    (2005).

18. FEKEL. F. C. et al.: "HD 166181 = V815 Herculis, a single-lined spectroscopic multiple
    system". Astron. J. 129 (2), 1001 (2005).

19. FRASCA, A. &  LANZA, A. F.: "Orbital period variation in close binaries from radial 
    velocity data and magnetic activity cycles - II. HR 1099." Astron. Astrophys. 429 
    (1), 309 (2005).

20. GATEWOOD, G.: "An astrometric study of the binary star alpha Ophiuchi". Astron. J. 130 
    (2), 809 (2005).

21. GRIFFIN, R. F.: "Spectroscopic Binary Orbits from Photoelectric Radial Velocities - 
    Paper 180: Zeta Aurigae". The Observatory 125, 1 (2005).

22. GRIFFIN, R. F.: "Spectroscopic Binary Orbits from Photoelectric Radial Velocities - 
    Paper 181: HD 49635/6, HD 50730/1, HD 201563, and HD 203340". The Observatory 125, 
    81 (2005).

23. GRIFFIN, R. F.: "Spectroscopic Binary Orbits from Photoelectric Radial Velocities - 
    Paper 182: 22 Camelopardalis, HD 156051, HR 6890, and HD221757". The Observatory 125, 
    134 (2005).

24. GRIFFIN, R. F.: "Spectroscopic Binary Orbits from Photoelectric Radial Velocities - 
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25. GRIFFIN, R. F.: "Spectroscopic Binary Orbits from Photoelectric Radial Velocities - 
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26. GRIFFIN, R. F.: "The BY Dra Star HD 77191 is a Spectroscopic Binary, but GQ Leo
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27. GRIFFIN, R. F.: "Spectroscopic Binary Orbits from Photoelectric Radial Velocities -
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28. GRIFFIN, R. F.: "Radial-Velocity Observations That Just Missed a Periastron Passage
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29. HONIG, S. F. & TSCHARNUTER, W. M.: "Preliminary orbital elements of four 
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30. HUBBER, D. A. &  WHITWORTH, A. P.: "Binary star formation from ring fragmentation". 
    Astron. Astrophys. 437 (1), 113 (2005).

31. JANCART, S. et al.: "Astrometric orbits of S_BO stars". Astron. Astrophys. 442 (1), 
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32. KONACKI, M.: "Precision Radial Velocities of Double-lined Spectroscopic Binaries 
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33. KOENIG, B. et al.: "The young active binary star EK Draconis" Astron. Astrophys. 435 
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34. KOUWENHOVEN, M. B. N. et al.: "The primordial binary population - I. A near-infrared 
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35. LAMPENS, P. et al.: "A photometric study of the light variations of the triple system 
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36. LUHMAN, K. L.: "Discovery of a Wide, Low-Mass Binary System in Upper Scorpius". 
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37. MAKAROV, V. V. & KAPLAN, G. H.: "Statistical Constraints for Astrometric Binaries with 
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38. MANSET, N.; BASTIEN, P. & BERTOUT, C.: "Polarimetric variation of binary stars. VI. 
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39. MAYER, P.: "Triple and Multiple Systems". Astrophys. Space Science 296 (1-4), 113. 
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40. MUGRAUER, M. et al.: "Four new wide binaries among exoplanet host stars". Astron. 
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41. NAZE, Y. et al.: "Optical spectroscopy of X-Mega targets V. The spectroscopic binary 
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42. OLEVIC, D. & CVETKOVIC, Z.: "Orbital Elements, Dynamical Masses and Parallaxes for 
    Four Double and One Triple Systems." Serbian Astron. J. 170, 65 (2005).

43. OLEVIC, D. & CVETKOVIC, Z.: "Orbits of Six Binary Stars." Rev. Mex. A. A. 41, 17 
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44. ORLOV, V. V. & ZHUCHKOV, R. Y.: "Analysis of the Dynamic Stability of Selected Multiple 
    Stars with Weak Hierarchy". Astron. Reports 49 (3), 201 (2005).

45. PAVLOVIC, R.  & TODOROVIC. N.: "Orbits of Seven Edge-On Visual Double Stars". 
    Serbian Astron. J. 170, 73 (2005).

46. PAVLOVIC, R. et al.: "CCD Measurements of Double and Multiple Stars at NAO Rozhen". 
    Serbian Astron. J. 171, 49 (2005).

47. PHAN-BAO, N. et al.: "Discovery of a widely separated binary system of very low mass
    stars". Astron. Astrophys. 439 (2), L19 (2005).

48. PLUZHNIK, E. A.: "Differential photometry of speckle-interferometric binary and multiple 
    stars." Astron. Astrophys. 431 (2), 587 (2005).

49. POURBAIX, D. et al.: "Candidate spectroscopic binaries in the Sloan Digital Sky
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50. RAMM, D. J.; HEARNSHAW, J. B. & SKULJAN, J.: "Spectroscopic Mass Ratios for Two Visual
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51. RICHICHI, A.; PERCHERON, I. & KHRISTOFOROVA, M.: "CHARM2: An updated Catalog of High 
    Angular Resolution Measurements." Astron. Astrophys. 431 (2), 773 (2005).

52. ROBERTS, L. C. et al.: "Adaptative optics photometry and astrometry of binary stars".
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53. RUTKOWSKI, A. & WANIAK, W.: "Speckle Observations of Binary Stars with a 0.5 m
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54. SCARDIA, M. et al.: "Speckle observations with PISCO in Merate - I. Astrometric 
    measurements of visual binaries in 2004." Monthly Notices 357 (4), 1255 (2005).

55. SIEGLER, N. et al.: "Discovery of Two Very Low Mass Binaries: Final Results of an 
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56. SILVESTRI, N. M.; HAWLEY, S. L. & OSWALT, T. D.: "The chromospheric activity and ages 
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57. SMITH, K. W. et al.: "Close binary companions of the HAeBe stars LkHalpha 198, Elias 1, 
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58. SODERHJELM, S. & DISCHLER, J.: "Eclipsing binary statistics - Theory and observation".
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59. STERZIK, M. F. et al.: "HD 34700 is a T Tauri multiple system." Astron. Astrophys. 434 
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60. TAMAZIAN, V. et al.: "Orbit, Dynamical Mass, and MK Type of Visual Binary WOR 2."
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61. TOKOVININ, A. et al.: "An old nearby quadruple system Gliese 225.2." Astron. Astrophys. 
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62. TOMKIN, J.: "Orbits of Hyades Multiple-Lined Spectroscopic Binaries - Paper 4: The 
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63. UMBREIT, S. et al.: "The Decay of Accreting Triple Systems as Brown Dwarf Formation
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64. VALTONEN, M. et al.: "Dynamics of rotating triple systems: statistical escape theory 
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65. ZAPATERO, M. R. & MARTIN, E. L.: "CCD Search for Wide Metal-Poor Binary Stars: 
    Approaching the Metal-Depleted Substellar Limit". Rev. Mex. A. A. (SC) 24, 192 (2005).

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    Multiple Stars with Weak Hierarchy". Astron. Reports 49 (4), 274 (2005).


*********************************************************************** 

The deadline for contributions to Information Circular No. 159 is:
     
                             June 15th 2006


         J. A. Docobo (oadoco@usc.es)
         J. F. Ling (oafana@usc.es)
         Tel: +34 981592747
         Fax: +34 981597054

         Observatorio Astronomico "R. M. Aller"
         P. O. Box 197
         Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
         SPAIN
         http://www.usc.es/astro


ISSN: 1024-7769




            INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION COMMISSION 26 (DOUBLE STARS)                 
                   INFORMATION CIRCULAR No. 159  (JUNE 2006)                   


                                    NEW ORBITS                               

  ADS            Name        P (yr)      T       e      W(2000)      2006      Author
 RA 2000 DEC    n (deg)      a (")   i (deg)   w (deg)  Last ob.     2007      
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  243         A 803         247.63   2053.72    0.392   151.2     306.4 0.254  NOVAKOVIC
00182+7257     1.4538         0.367    68.6   243.0    1998.6650  307.4 0.256    

    -         BAG 10 Aa       4.85   2003.50    0.224   329.9     265.4 0.028  DOCOBO &
00568+6022    74.2421         0.032    47.6   104.4    1998.7770  316.5 0.034  ANDRADE

  805         BU 302        331.97   2017.54    0.665    17.2     200.1 0.290  CVETKOVIC
00583+2124     1.0845         0.651    48.1   252.2    1999.892   203.0 0.279   

  832         A 926         253.99   2131.63    0.388    74.2     340.2 0.373  CVETKOVIC
01011+6022     1.4174         0.318    32.3    85.7    1998.666   341.0 0.373   

  828         BU 867        239.84   2000.55    0.222   173.4     354.7 0.579  CVETKOVIC
01014+1155     1.5010         0.745   102.6   160.8    2001.769   354.2 0.582   

  974         A 655         153.09   2040.77    0.185   157.5     342.0 0.339  CVETKOVIC
01112+4113     2.3515         0.338    53.1   290.5    1995.771   343.4 0.335   

   -          HJ 3447      1503.58   2039.79    0.604    69.6     179.3 0.801  NOVAKOVIC
01361-2954     0.2394         3.155    55.6   140.2    2001.8840  181.0 0.803   

 1345         A 1           676.7    1885.32    0.719   163.1     250.4 0.836  SCARDIA
01424-0645     0.5320         0.989    44.1   303.0    2006.091   250.7 0.839  et al. (*)

 1503         BU  260       931.05   2804.38    0.262    73.0     259.3 1.099  NOVAKOVIC
01532+1526     0.3867         1.303    71.8   119.9    1998.9640  259.5 1.098   

 1938         STT 42 AB     297.72   1985.66    0.353    96.1      26.7 0.038  NOVAKOVIC
02333+5219     1.2092         0.295    80.3   222.4    1996.6913   37.2 0.042   

 2204         STF 312 AB   2037.66   2137.36    0.506    14.5      42.6  1.901 NOVAKOVIC
02563+7253     0.1767         3.880    59.8   115.6    2003.9400   42.9 1.888   

 3589         STT 92 AB    1598.04   3242.73    0.536   155.4     280.6 4.048  NOVAKOVIC
05003+3924     0.2253         5.379    56.1   333.4    2002.9770  280.8 4.060   

 4078         DA 6          600.     1996.40    0.740    59.7     287.1 0.138  LING
05289-0318     0.6000         0.553    44.9   186.0    1997.1310  291.7 0.138   

 6526         A 1580        255.28   2013.03    0.232   104.6     288.2 0.245  CVETKOVIC
08017-0836     1.4102         0.318    56.5   202.9    1996.181   289.5 0.243   

 7730         STF 1426 AB   661.8    1674.23    0.189   114.0     310.2 0.911  SCARDIA
10205+0626     0.5440         0.800    47.2    22.8    2006.308   310.5 0.910  et al. (*)

 8555         B 228          44.43   1952.41    0.659   137.3     112.2 0.160  RICA
12274-2843     8.1026         0.178    65.4   166.9    2001.0801  115.0 0.177   

 8630         STF 1670 AB   169.10   2005.51    0.883    37.1     103.5 0.406  DOCOBO &
12417-0127     2.1289         3.644   149.1   256.7    2006.427    59.5 0.658  TAMAZIAN

 8630         STF 1670 AB   169.10   2005.51    0.882    35.3     104.3 0.409  SCARDIA
12417-0127     2.1289         3.643   149.4   255.0    2006.450    60.0 0.657  et al. (*)

10374         BU 1118 AB     87.58   2024.68    0.950    38.9     237.8 0.571  DOCOBO
17104-1544     4.1105         1.396    95.2   274.8    2006.420   237.1 0.575  & LING

10795         STF 2215     1062.47   2066.49    0.397   105.5     254.1 0.484  CVETKOVIC
17471+1742     0.3388         0.838   132.2   270.6    2002.509   253.5 0.480   

11010         BU1127AaB     270.82   2102.72    0.365   142.5      57.3 0.822  CVETKOVIC
18025+4414     1.32931        0.732   150.9   239.1    2000.540    56.4 0.819   
 
13665         A 1205        464.     1969.67    0.877   105.8      98.5 1.02   RICA
20182+2912     0.7759         1.54    100.1   251.4    2001.53     98.4 1.03   

15300         A 1223 AB      44.09   1972.72    0.322    15.2     344.9 0.131  RICA
21459+1153     8.1651         0.123   159.0   155.4    1998.679   338.2 0.125   

15902         BU 172 AB     148.9    1987.64    0.706    91.8      48.1 0.370  DOCOBO
22241-0450     2.4177         0.406   162.2   274.1    2004.721    46.2 0.382  & LING

16886         A 1493        114.0    2011.40    0.230   165.2     300.8 0.108  DOCOBO
23382+5514     3.1579         0.156   142.2   258.7   1996.5405   295.6 0.105  & LING


(*) SCARDIA, PRIEUR, PANSECCHI, ARGYLE ++ BASSO




                             COMMENTS ABOUT IAU SYMPOSIUM 240
At the occasion of the organization at Prague of this symposium, I feel necessary to recall 
that specialists of close double stars and wide ones met at many other important meetings 
(colloquia and symposia) well before. Each of them appeared more important than the previous 
ones in a logical increasing order and it is thus not surprising that the present one will 
be at the top. But only some of them could be considered as "corner stones". I wish that the 
next Symposium will be one of these as was the first one of the series, as mentioned by 
Mirek PLAVEC in his talk at the 69th IAU Colloquium held at Bamberg in 1981 (Binary and 
Multiple Stars as Tracers of Stellar Evolution - Astrophysics and Space Science Library,
98, 1982, pp.119-122) by saying:

"By this format and title, this Colloquium resembles the Colloquium: On the Evolution of 
Double Stars,  held at Brussels 15 years ago, in September 1966 (Dommanget, 1967). That was 
a memorable colloquium, since the evolution in binary stars was, for the first time, the 
topic of a whole meeting. Since then, our field has expended tremendously. We held two 
large-scale Symposia discussing the evolution of close binaries only (Eggleton, Mitton and 
Whelan, 1976; Plavec, Popper and Ulrich, 1980) in addition to several other meetings in a 
slightly lower scale. After the most recent Symposium, held in Toronto in 1979, I concluded 
that in the future it would no longer be possible to cover adequately, in one full Symposium, 
the whole fields of close binaries."

J. Dommanget.



     
                                  WULFF DIETER HEINTZ (1930 - 2006)

Once again I have the sad duty of noting the passing of a long-time member of Commission 26. 
Dr. Wulff Dieter Heintz died over the weekend of June 10/11, 2006, following a long battle with 
theillness.

Wulff Heintz was one of the giant figures in double star astronomy for many decades. As an 
observer of visual doubles he was second only to van den Bos in output, publishing nearly 20,000 
means (based on some 54,000 measures, 47,500 by micrometry and 6,500 by photography) and 
discovering 918 new pairs over a career spanning half a century. He remains the largest 
contributor of "preferred" orbits to the Sixth Catalog of Visual Binary Stars; the (incomplete)
database for that catalog includes an astounding 748 sets of his orbital elements. The Sixth 
Catalog itself is a direct descendant of the Fourth Orbit Catalog, published by Wulff and 
Charles Worley in 1983 and a standard reference for 17 years. Finally, Wulff's book "Double Stars" 
(originally published in German under the title "Dopplesterne") remains the bible for many of us 
in the field, 35 years after its publication.

Born in Wursburg, Germany, Wulff began his work in astromety at the University of Munich, and 
began specializing in the field of double stars very early in his career; his first doublestar-
related publication (fittingly, orbits of four visual binaries) was published in 1954. He joined 
the faculty of Swarthmore College (Swarthmore, Pennsylvania) in 1967, where he remained a popular
lecturer and indefatigable observer until his retirement in 1998. Known for the utmost care in his 
observing and the sparest of prose in his writing, he remained active in astronomy even as an 
emeritus professor; the final publication bearing his name was a poster presented this past 
January at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington. His was truly a remarkable 
career.

I'm sure the thoughts of many of us will be with Wulff's family.

William Hartkopf
U.S. Naval Observatory.

*********************************************************************** 

The deadline for contributions to Information Circular No. 160 is:
     
                             October 15th 2006


         J. A. Docobo (oadoco@usc.es)
         J. F. Ling (oafana@usc.es)
         Tel: +34 981592747
         Fax: +34 981597054

         Observatorio Astronomico "R. M. Aller"
         P. O. Box 197
         Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
         SPAIN
         http://www.usc.es/astro


ISSN: 1024-7769




            INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION COMMISSION 26 (DOUBLE STARS)                 
                   INFORMATION CIRCULAR No. 160  (OCTOBER 2006)                   


                                    NEW ORBITS                               

  ADS            Name        P (yr)      T       e      W(2000)      2006      Author
 RA 2000 DEC    n (deg)      a (")   i (deg)   w (deg)  Last ob.     2007      
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

   30         CHR 122Aa      70.12   2050.07    0.515   100.6     344.2 0.067  NOVAKOVIC
00046+4206     5.1339         0.165   104.8   295.1    1996.5378  337.8 0.072     

  440         GL   22Aa      15.64   2000.76    0.174   175.1      49.1 0.443  DOCOBO &
00321+6715    23.0179         0.511    44.6   106.8    2004.9902   71.8 0.424  TAMAZIAN

  440         GL   22Aa-B   222.3    2081.84    0.296   174.7     174.9 4.001  DOCOBO 
00321+6715     1.6194         3.310    47.3   146.2    2005.8029  175.6 3.984  et al. (*)

 2756         BU 1003       286.34   1997.42    0.479    81.7     222.6 1.083  NOVAKOVIC
03454-2752     1.2572         2.145    34.7   101.7    2001.8623  226.1 1.110    

 2921         HU   29       123.98   1939.63    0.879   135.8     311.9 0.434  CVETKOVIC 
03596-1019     2.9036         0.234    64.5   349.3    1997.030   312.1 0.434    

 2928         A  1937        42.32   1972.75    0.859   149.9      65.8 0.108  BRENDLEY  &
04008+0505     8.5066         0.126    53.3    75.4    1995.9321   69.6 0.102  HARTKOPF

 2959         STF 483       495.65   1909.98    0.706   190.2      58.4 1.375  BRENDLEY
04041+3931     0.7263         2.482   110.8   321.1    2003.053    57.8 1.393  & MASON

 3326         A  1840AB     163.5    1840.71    0.436    79.4      14.6 0.103  BRENDLEY &
04362+0814     2.2018         0.220   143.4    58.2    1996.869     7.3 0.103  HARTKOPF

 3358         STF 566AB-C   480.75   2027.79    0.229   110.8     183.9 0.759  CVETKOVIC
04400+5328     0.7488         1.514   128.4   307.1    2005.090   182.1 0.763  

    -         HJ 3683       326.17   1919.36    0.95    263.6      89.8 3.546  BRENDLEY
04403-5857     1.1037         2.435   100.9   338.1    2002.704    89.8 3.567  & MASON

    -         I   342       868.05   2743.45    0.915    74.6     135.0 3.094  NOVAKOVIC
04496-5353     0.4147         3.827   127.0   127.3     2001.8734 134.9 3.110  

 3610         A  2629       141.0    1958.27    0.803   103.1     190.5 0.146  SCARDIA
05010-1112     2.5531         0.192   117.1   102.4    1996.863   189.3 0.148  et al. (**)

 4236         A  1564       181.7    1845.8     0.207   160.8     157.0 0.199  BRENDLEY &
05394+4343     1.9813         0.232    71.0    50.6    1997.1254  157.9 0.199  HARTKOPF

 5092         B   114        60.11   1977.75    0.584   118.9     354.7 0.592  CVETKOVIC
06274-2544     5.9892         0.430    34.2    64.2    1996.8987  356.9 0.590  

 6454         STF1157      1448.     2002.98    0.443    64.7     185.8 0.715  LING
07546-0248     0.2486         1.827   130.2   246.6    2003.53    184.8 0.711  

 6796         HU 856         80.59   1948.61    0.534     3.9     306.9 0.238  CVETKOVIC
08254+3723     4.4669         0.227    42.9    85.2    1992.2199  309.4 0.236  

 7334         A  1342        51.57   1949.56    0.090    26.5     196.7 0.145  RICA
09228-0950     6.9808         0.169    68.6   115.1    1996.1783  200.0 0.153  

 8311         BU  603       136.0    1941.11    0.808   255.8     337.8 1.078  BRENDLEY
11486+1417     2.6471         0.702   148.0    98.3    2005.34    337.2 1.079  & MASON

 8485         HU  736       245.47   1949.77    0.427   275.9     193.0 0.305  BRENDLEY &
12160+4807     1.4666         0.305   153.4   314.7    1997.4     191.8 0.308  HARTKOPF

 9094         BU 1270        38.74   1989.96    0.435   116.6     320.7 0.269  BRENDLEY
14037+0829     9.2916         0.195    26.6    40.3    2003.476   324.6 0.270  & MASON

    -         COU 606        25.91   2010.57    0.347    48.3     339.4 0.151  DOCOBO
14138+3059    13.8943         0.183   147.5   175.8    2005.5179  321.2 0.134  & LING

 9654         A  2175       218.14   1495.5     0.500   177.6     204.7 0.257  BRENDLEY
15282+0251     1.6503         0.263    65.5   254.4    1998.446   205.4 0.256  & MASON

 9747         A  2176        53.74   1987.58    0.703   100.0     180.0 0.206  BRENDLEY
15420+0027     6.6988         0.158    34.6   276.3    2001.5638  182.2 0.209  & MASON

10007         A   225        43.34   2005.90    0.489   117.5     295.1 0.066  ANDRADE
16198+2646     8.3064         0.129   114.4   183.1    2005.5179  282.6 0.060  

    -         CHR  55        62.79   1990.01    0.648   177.4     130.0 0.066  BRENDLEY &
16254+3724     5.7334         0.321    96.5   292.3    1997.1266  116.6 0.057  HARTKOPF

10404         BAR   7       428.12   2216.98    0.186   170.0      62.3 1.571  NOVAKOVIC
17141-0824     0.8409         2.265   124.5   278.4    1997.5800   61.4 1.577  

10899         A  2189       154.5    1976.35    0.496   153.3     254.2 0.074  DOCOBO &
17563+0259     2.3301         0.218    71.7   327.6    2005.5235  259.5 0.077  TAMAZIAN

11071         HU 1186       104.3    1925.94    0.401   281.2     116.2 0.244  BRENDLEY
18063+3824     3.4516         0.32     76.3   355.8    2000.54    117.5 0.228  & MASON

11071         HU 1186       112.41   1932.38    0.466    99.2     113.5 0.300  CVETKOVIC
18063+3824     3.2025         0.295    74.5   199.5    2000.540   114.2 0.291  

11584         STT 363       405.     1986.20    0.872   159.5     342.8 0.417  ALZNER
18374+7741     0.8889         0.735    76.8    61.6    2005.76    343.1 0.429  

11574         A  2988        57.09   1941.38    0.694   321.3     253.9 0.090  RICA
18410+2450     6.3058         0.103   153.3   297.7    1995.6007  249.0 0.097  

11692         HU  937       225.53   1678.60    0.800   166.8     330.9 0.959  BRENDLEY
18462+6412     1.5962         0.997    80.1   304.4    2003.691   331.1 0.967  & MASON

12145         SE    2BC      62.79   1956.62    0.496   271.5      63.6 0.289  BRENDLEY &
19111+3847     5.7334         0.379   113.4     4.6    2001.4989   59.8 0.260  HARTKOPF

12552         A   712        95.41   1972.92    0.567    98.6      81.1 0.120  BRENDLEY
19302+5639     3.7732         0.177    99.0   263.0    1996.6903   80.0 0.116  & MASON

12552         A   712        99.08   1972.96    0.557    98.2      81.6 0.132  CVETKOVIC
19302+5639     3.6336         0.180    99.7   262.2    1996.6903   80.7 0.128  

    -         CHR  90        60.14   2001.65    0.770    73.5     258.2 0.185  CVETKOVIC
19531-1436     5.9857         0.268   137.1    51.2    1996.532   253.1 0.213  

    -         COU1962        33.13   1979.57    0.189   109.9      69.6 0.096  DOCOBO
20311+3333    10.8663         0.213    71.5    25.0    2005.5179   83.0 0.119  & LING

15236         HU  280       170.43   1794.63    0.054   315.1     352.5 0.180  BRENDLEY &
21423+0555     2.1123         0.214    46.3   315.3    2000.5     354.6 0.178  HARTKOPF

15251         BU  688  AB   110.67   1948.42    0.979   185.2     201.0 0.435  BRENDLEY &
21426+4103     3.2529         0.394   100.4   122.1    2004.21    200.9 0.436  HARTKOPF

16164         HO  188       193.15   2024.44    0.219   219.5     221.3 0.360  BRENDLEY
22402+3732     1.8638         0.430    69.4    57.4    2002.764   222.2 0.356  & MASON


(*) DOCOBO, TAMAZIAN & CAMPO
(**) SCARDIA, PRIEUR, PANSECCHI & ARGYLE

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                Summary of Prague Business Meeting 

                                      W.I. Hartkopf, USNO


This is a summary of the business meeting of Commission 26, which took place on 17 August 2006, 
during the XXVIth IAU General Assembly in Prague. It was chaired by its outgoing president, 
W. Hartkopf, and was attended by the following: H. Abt, C. Allen, W. van Altena, R. Argyle, 
G. van Belle, D. Bisikalo, A. Bradley, T. ten Brummelaar, T. Corbin, R. Costero, J. Davis, 
H. Dickel, J. A. Docobo, J. Echevarria, F. Fekel, E. Griffin, P. Harmanec, W. Hartkopf, P. Lampens, 
O. Malkov, B. Mason, H. McAlister, T. Oswalt, D. Pourbaix, A. Poveda, D. Raghavan, W. Sanders, 
C. Scarfe, W. Tango, A. Tokovinin, S. Urban, R. Wilson, and H. Zinnecker.

W. Hartkopf started with a report on events during the past triennium. He announced the deaths, 
during that period, of members G. Douglass, W. Heintz, and R. Walker and the meeting observed a few
moments of silence in their memory.

The Commission then welcomed the following 26 new members: 

    J. Ahumada (Argentina),       C. Bailyn (USA),              Z. Cvetkovic (Serbia),    
    R. Dukes, Jr. (USA),          V. Elkin (United Kingdom),    L. Freyhammer (United Kingdom), 
    S. Goodwin (UK),              T. Hillwig (USA),             L. Kazantseva (Ukraine), 
    L. Kisseleva-Eggleton (USA),  S. Kitsionas (Germany),       W. Kley (Germany), 
    J. Lim (China Taipei),        Y. Lyubchik (Ukraine),        V. Marsakova (Ukraine), 
    D. McDavid (USA),             M. Mikolajewski (Poland),     I. Negueruela (Spain), 
    R. Neuhaeusen (Germany),      D. Nurnberger (Chile),        V. Orlov (Russia), 
    M. Petr-Gotzens (Germany),    D. Pollacco (UK),             L. Roberts, Jr. (USA),
    A. Smith (USA),     and       A. Zheleznyak (Ukraine).

This brings the total membership of Commission 26 to 151, from 35 countries.

The chairman then reported on the recent election, in which just over half the membership voted. For 
the period 2006 to 2009, the president will be C. Allen, and the vice-president, J.A. Docobo. The OC 
will be made up of new members Y. Balega, B. Mason, D. Pourbaix, and C. Scarfe, along with 
continuing members J. Davis, E. Oblak and T. Oswalt. Four new OC members were added rather than the
usual three, due to a tie in the vote.

W. Hartkopf gave a short summary of developments at the Commission's website, and invited 
suggestions for further improvements. J.A. Docobo then gave a report on Commission 26 circulars.

Andrei Tokovinin gave a brief account of the ESO workshop "Multiple Stars across the H-R Diagram", 
held July 2005 in Munich. Announcements were then made of upcoming meetings, including IAU
Symposium 240 ("Binary Stars as Critical Tools and Tests in Contemporary Astrophysics"), to be held 
later during the Prague GA, and Symposium 248 ("A Giant Step: from Milli- to Micro-arcsecond
Astrometry"), to be held 15-19 October 2007 in Shanghai.

Reports on catalogues and journals followed, including the USNO CD-ROM 2006.5 (Hartkopf), the Ninth 
Spectroscopic Orbit Catalog (Pourbaix), the Multiple Stars Catalog (Tokovinin), the Catalogue of
Orbits and Ephemerides of Visual Double Stars (Docobo), and the Catalogue of Eclipsing Binaries 
(Malkov).

R. Argyle followed with a discussion of amateur projects in double-star measurement, including the 
efforts of the French Astronomical Society, the Webb Society, the new electronic Journal of Double 
Star Observations, the Spanish/South American LIADA group, and Garraf Observatory in Spain. Amateurs 
are reponsible for over 1/3 of the measures added to the WDS during the past 6 years, and many of 
these measures are of quite high quality. Argyle highlighted some of the major amateur observers, 
their equipment, and examples of their observations. He ended his talk with a plea encouraging
observers to work in the long-neglected southern hemisphere.

Reports were given on various observing facilities and programs, including the speckle programs of 
Calar Alto (Docobo), the USNO (Mason), PISCO (Argyle), and RYTSI/WIYN (van Altena). T. ten
Brummelaar gave an update on the CHARA Array, which is now operating with six 1-meter telescopes 
over a 350-m baseline.

The business portion of the meeting then concluded with an outline of plans for the next triennium, 
by incoming president C. Allen.

Following a break, the science portion of the Commission meeting was comprised of six interesting 
talks: 
     - Theo ten Brummelaar: The use of an outlying star as a calibrator for close pairs in 
                            interferometry;
     - Rafael Costero: A new SB in the Trapezium; 
     - Jose Docobo: The coplanarity of visual orbits in the triple system of red dwarfs Gliese 22; 
     - Elizabeth Griffin: The Binary Star Gamma Persei: Bright, but Ill-understood... ;
     - Patricia Lampens: The Hyades binary theta 2 Tau; 
     - Brian Mason: Double Stars and the Terrestrial Planet Finder Mission.

The meeting then adjourned to the steps of the Congress Centre for a group photo.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                 NOTES

Others papers on double stars published in 2005:

DOMMANGET, J.: "Les elements orbitaux des etoiles doubles visuelles. Leurs definitions, notions peu 
ou tres mal connues..",  L'Astronomie 119, 248-250 (2005)


*************************************************************************************************** 

The deadline for contributions to Information Circular No. 161 is:
     
                                           February 15th 2007


         J. A. Docobo (oadoco@usc.es)
         J. F. Ling (oafana@usc.es)
         Tel: +34 981592747
         Fax: +34 981597054

         Observatorio Astronomico "R. M. Aller"
         P. O. Box 197
         Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
         SPAIN
         http://www.usc.es/astro


ISSN: 1024-7769