Three Years of Speckle Interferometry at the U.S. Naval Observatory

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Session 86 -- Double Stars
Display presentation, Friday, January 14, 9:30-6:45, Salons I/II Room (Crystal Gateway)

[86.05] Three Years of Speckle Interferometry at the U.S. Naval Observatory

Geoffrey G. Douglass, Robert B. Hindsley, and Charles E. Worley (U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C. 20392-5420)

We began a program of speckle interferometry of double and mul- ple stars with a new instrument attached to the 66cm refractor in Oct. 1990. This poster paper will illustrate the new camera, and its associated control, monitoring, and reduction equipment. We present video tape of actual observations, as well as cali- bration measurements.

The observing program is aimed at providing high-quality obser- vations of binaries in the range of separations 0.3 to 3.0 arc seconds. More than 3000 measurements have been made to date. Not only do we aim to provide accurate data, but also, by careful calibration, to tie the "classical" astrometry of binary stars firmly to that being obtained today by speckle, and soon by other modern techniques.

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