Chris Marriott Mar 29, 2002
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill J Gray" <pluto@...>
To: <guide-user@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, March 29, 2002 7:18 PM
Subject: [guide-user] Doubles in Tycho-2
> Hi Chris,
>
> We may have a way of getting around this limitation. The new
> "Tycho Double Star Catalog(ue)" (TDSC) does show both components,
> properly positioned, as well as a whole slew of previously unresolved
> very close doubles.
>
> http://www.projectpluto.com/extras.htm#tdsc
>
> In addition to this, there's a new version of WDS out that (at long
> last!) provides arcsecond-level positions, instead of arcminute level
> ones. With these two tools, handling of double stars in future versions
> of Guide (and SkyMap) ought to be much better. Of course, all these
> wonders came out a bit late for Guide 8... and in cases such as Eps2
> Lyr, I'd really prefer to show correct orbital motion anyway.
Hi Bill,
Many thanks for the info - I'll investigate.
As you rightly say, plotting double stars with known orbits in the correct
place on the star chart would indeed be a highly desirable goal, and is on
my (very long) "list of things to do". SkyMap already computes PA and
separation data for binaries with known orbits, using data from the USNO's
"Catalog of Orbits of Visual Binary Stars", but currently only displays this
information as text, rather than plotting on the map.
Perhaps this is an area in which we might be able to help each other out, as
we've done previously in other areas - I'll send you private e-mail.
Thanks again for the helpful info.
Regards,
Chris
---------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Marriott, SkyMap Software, UK
e-mail: chris@... Web site: http://www.skymap.com
Astronomy software written by astronomers, for astronomers