The catalogue of spectroscopic binary orbits (SB) is a compilation of orbital data for spectroscopic binary stars which have been produced since 1969 by Alan Henry Batten of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory[1] and various collaborators.[2] At the 24th International Astronomical Union general assembly, in 2000, a working group was established to take responsibility for maintenance of the catalogue, and to take it from a paper based system to an online database.[3] The 9th catalogue was published in 2004.[2]

As of 7 August 2009, the catalogue database contained information on over 2940 binary systems,[4] increasing to 3722 in March 2019. The main components of the current SB9 catalogue, as a work in progress, can be downloaded in gzipped tar ball format.[5]

Applications

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The catalogue is used for a variety of purposes:

  • Completeness assessments and statistical analysis
  • Generation of H–R diagrams and definition of shortest period
  • Computation of period & eccentricity relationships

References

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  1. ^ The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System Alan H Batten entry Retrieved February 2015
  2. ^ a b Pourbaix, D.; Tokovinin, A. A.; Batten, A. H.; Fekel, F. C.; Hartkopf, W. I.; Levato, H.; Morrell, N. I.; Torres, G.; Udry, S. (2004). "SB9: The ninth catalogue of spectroscopic binary orbits". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 424 (2): 727–732. arXiv:astro-ph/0406573. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20041213. ISSN 0004-6361.
  3. ^ IAU official website Introduction to SB9 version of the catalogue. 16 October 2003
  4. ^ Corbett, I. F., ed. (2010). Proceedings of the Twenty Seventh General Assembly Rio de Janeiro 2009: Transactions of the International Astronomical Union XXVIIB. Cambridge University Press. p. 191. ISBN 978-0-521-76831-3.
  5. ^ Current SB9 database, 3722 entries for version:2019-03-04 10:04:25.990702480 +0100