The Burnham Double Star Catalogue (BDS) is a catalogue of

double star In observational astronomy, a double star or visual double is a pair of stars that appear close to each other as viewed from Earth, especially with the aid of optical telescopes. This occurs because the pair either forms a binary star (i.e. a ...

s within 121° of the celestial

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

. It was published in two parts by the

Carnegie Institution of Washington The Carnegie Institution for Science, also known as Carnegie Science and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, is an organization established to fund and perform scientific research in the United States. This institution is headquartered in W ...

in 1906, under the title ''A General Catalogue of Double Stars Within 121° of the North Pole''. The first part gives coordinates, designations, and magnitudes for 13,665 pairs of double stars, comprising almost all double stars discovered before 1906.pp. 33–34, ''The Binary Stars'',

Robert Grant Aitken Robert Grant Aitken (December 31, 1864 – October 29, 1951) was an American astronomer. Early life and education Robert Grant Aitken was born in Jackson, California, to Scottish immigrant Robert Aitken and Wilhelmina Depinau. Aitken atte ...

, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1964. The second part contains measures, notes, and references to publications for each pair. Its publication was a stimulus to double star observation. The BDS was compiled by Sherburne Wesley Burnham, who worked on it sporadically for 36 years, starting in 1870. He first submitted it to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

, but it was rejected. In 1874, it was scheduled to be printed at the

United States Naval Observatory The United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is a scientific and military facility that produces geopositioning, navigation and timekeeping data for the United States Navy and the United States Department of Defense. Established in 1830 as the ...

, but the typesetting was interrupted midway and the type destroyed. In 1886 the Smithsonian changed its mind and offered to publish it, but Burnham had become discouraged and did not accept the offer. Burnham worked at

Lick Observatory The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the University of California. It is on the summit of Mount Hamilton (California), Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, United States. The ...

for four years starting in 1888.p. 23, Double Stars Galore!, chapter 4 in ''The Complete CD Guide to the Universe'', Richard Harshaw, New York: Springer, 2007, . . After leaving in 1892, he revised the manuscript of his catalog for five years; the Carnegie Institute published it nine years later.Sherburne Wesley Burnham and His Double Star Catalogue, Olin J. Eggen, ''Astronomical Society of the Pacific Leaflets'' 6, #295 (November 1953), pp. 354–361, By the time Burnham retired from Yerkes Observatory, he had accumulated material for a revision of his catalogue. This eventually formed part of the 1932 Aitken Double Star Catalogue (ADS), the successor to the BDS.

References

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External links

''A General Catalogue of Double Stars Within 121° of the North Pole''
Part I, Sherburne Wesley Burnham, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1906.
Full text of Part I online at Google Books. Astronomical catalogues of stars Double stars

See also

References

External links