{{short description|Astronomical catalog}} {{Infobox astronomical survey}} [[File:Footprint B wds.png|thumb|500px|The distribution of the objects of the catalog over the firmament is fairly even.]] The '''Washington Double Star Catalog''', or '''WDS''', is a [[astronomical catalogue|catalog]] of [[double star]]s, maintained at the [[United States Naval Observatory]]. The catalog contains positions, [[apparent magnitude|magnitude]]s, [[proper motion]]s and [[stellar classification|spectral type]]s and has entries for (as of January 2024) 157,012 pairs of double stars. The catalog also includes [[multiple star]]s. In general, a multiple star with ''n'' components will be represented by entries in the catalog for ''n''−1 pairs of stars.
==History== The database used to construct the WDS originated at [[Lick Observatory]], where it was used to construct the [[Index Catalog of Visual Double Stars]], published in 1963. In 1965, under the initiative of Charles Worley, it was transferred to the Naval Observatory.<ref name="worleyobit">{{cite journal | last1=Douglass | first1=Geoffrey G. | last2=Corbin | first2=Thomas E. | last3=Mason | first3=Brian D. | date=August 1998 | title=Charles Edmund Worley | journal=The Observatory | volume=118 | pages=250-251 | publisher=[[United States Naval Observatory]] | bibcode=1998Obs...118..250D }}</ref>
The catalog has since been augmented by many measurements, mainly from the [[Hipparcos|Hipparcos and Tycho catalogues]] and results from [[speckle interferometry]], as well as other sources. A unique 1–3 letter '''discovery code''' is used to identify the observer who reported the information. For example, HEI is used for the German astronomer [[Wulff-Dieter Heintz|W. D. Heintz]].<ref name="wdsc2001">{{cite journal | last1=Mason | first1=Brian D. | last2=Wycoff | first2=Gary L. | last3=Hartkopf | first3=William I. | last4=Douglass | first4=Geoffrey G. | last5=Worley | first5=Charles E. | year=2001 | title=The 2001 US Naval Observatory Double Star CD-ROM. I. The Washington Double Star Catalog | journal=The Astronomical Journal | volume=122 | issue=6 | pages=3466-3471 | doi=10.1086/323920 | bibcode=2001AJ....122.3466M | quote=These files are no longer updated. This is an archival website for the 2001.0 edition of the Washington Double Star Catalog. The last major update to this site was 26 September 2001 by Brian Mason. | doi-access=free }}</ref>
==See also== * [[Aitken Double Star Catalogue]] * [[Burnham Double Star Catalogue]]
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == * [https://crf.usno.navy.mil/wdstext The WDS at the US Naval Observatory] * [http://www.astro.gsu.edu/wds/ Mirror of the WDS at Georgia State University] * [http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/Cat?B/wds The Washington Double Star Catalog] at [[VizieR]] * [http://stelledoppie.goaction.it/ StelleDoppie] interface to the WDS
[[Category:Astronomical catalogues of stars]] [[Category:Double stars]]