The Winnecke Catalog of Double Stars

August Winnecke (1835-97) published a series of observations, entitled "Doppelsternmessungen" (Double Star Measurements), in Astronomische Nachrichten No. 1738 (Winnecke 1869). Within this paper, he reports of numerous observational results, obtained with various refractors from Bonn, Berlin, and Pulkovo. Besides reporting observations of wellknown pairs, he includes a list of seven "new" double stars, marked as "Nova" (latin for New; p 156 of the paper). He notes that he later found that three of them (30 Eri, Bradley 757, and 44 Cyg) had been recognized as double stars earlier by Peters and Alvan Clarke.

Nova. W. 0.881 = BD +8 No 137. 9.0 and 9.3 m. 412, Pulk.

  1863,857 23:18   Sep  5.37"   PA 131.0 
      ,872 23:45        5.28"      129.5
  1863,86          Sep  5.325"  PA 130.25

Nova. 30 Eridani. 6 and 9.10 m. 412, Pulk.
Winnecke found later that this star had been previously known as double. He suspected that "A" might be itself double, to be confirmed under better conditions.
```
  1863,824  4:00                PA 137.9
      ,870  4:48   Sep  8.28"      135.7
  1863,85          Sep  8.280"  PA 136.80
```
Nova. Bradley 757 = BD -1 No 882. 6.0 and 6.7 m. 320, Pulk.
Winnecke found later that this star had been previously known as double.
```
  1863,870         Sep  1"      PA 173.6  (est)
```
Nova. Groombridge 1878. 9 and 9.3 m. 320, Pulk.
Identified as Messier 40 by John Mallas around 1965 (Mallas 1966).
```
  1863,777         Sep 49.16"   PA  88.02
```

Nova. Lalande 25358. 9.5 and 9.5 m.

  1855,216         Sep  4,68"   PA 165,23    480
      ,377                         164,33    320
  1855,30          Sep  4.68"   PA 164.78

Nova. 44 Cygni. 6 m red-yellow and 8 m violet. 412, Pulk.
Winnecke found later that this star had been previously known as double.

  1863,766 19:06   Sep  1,95"   PA 157,4
      ,848 19:18        2,22       162,7
  1863,81          Sep  2,085"  PA 160.05

Nova. W. XXIII.544 = BD +30 No 4971. 8.5 and 10 m. 412, Pulk.

  1863,848 23:00   Sep  1.3"    PA 166.5  (est)
      ,856 23:00        1.51"      170.5
  1863,85          Sep  1,510"  PA 168.50

The author thanks Leos Ondra for making a copy of the Winnecke paper available.

Astronomical Data of the Winnecke Double Stars

WNC #  Con RA  (2000.0)  Dec  m1/m2[/m3] Sp1/Sp2/[Sp3] Identification

WNC 1  Psc 00:58:01 +09:16.7  9.9/10.4    G5/?         W. 0.881, BD+8 137, ADS 802
WNC 2  Eri 03:52:42 -05:21.7  5.4/10.6    B8V/F4V      30 Eri, ADS 2832, BD-05 769
WNC 3  Ori 05:23:51 -00:52.0  6.6/8.0/8.1 F7V/F8V/F8V  Bradley 757, BD -1 882, ADS 3991,
                                                       HD 35317, CCDM J05239-0052
WNC 4  UMa 12:22:16 +58:05.0  9.6/10.1    G0/F8        M40, Groombridge 1878, BDS 6146,
                                                       HD 238107/8
WNC 5  Vir 13:45:33 -03:01.0  9.6         G0/          Lalande 25358, ADS 9015,
                                                       BD-02 3728
WNC 6  Cyg 20:31:00 +36:56.2  6.2/        F5Iab        44 Cyg, ADS 13949, BD+36 4105,
                                                       CCDM J20310+3656
WNC 7  Peg 23:32:33 +31:26.8  8.6         F8/          W. XXIII.544, BD+30 4971,
                                                       ADS 16822

Winnecke (WNC) Double Stars (ascii file, data from SIMBAD and other sources)

References

Friedrich August Theodor Winnecke, 1869. Doppelsternmessungen. Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 1738, Vol. 73, col. 145-160 (February 8, 1869); published in Altona [ADS: 1869AN.....73..145W]
John Mallas, 1966. Letter to the Editor. Sky and Telescope, Vol. 32, No. 2 (August 1966), p. 83 [Bibcode: 1966S&T....32...83M]. Available online.

Hartmut Frommert
Christine Kronberg
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Last Modification: August 15, 2012