Explanation of the data in the WDS vs catalogs
magnitude study.
Each entry in the WDS catalog was read. A given pair was rejected if the
data in the notes column had an:
- I: The pair's identification is uncertain.
- K: K band infrared magnitude.
- R: Johnson red band magnitude.
- X: The pair is dubious.
Please further note that WDS entires without a precise position or if
the primary is fainter than 15mv are rejected as well.
These markings indicate that the pair has known problems with its visible
magnitude designation, so it is not incuded in this study.
The pair was then compared with all of the stars within an arc minute of
the WDS postion in the UCAC4, Tycho, Bright Star, SAO, and AC2000 catalogs. If
a pair's primary magnitude was within a magnitude of the catalog star,
and the catalog's position of the star was within 10" of the WDS position,
the star was considered to be confirmed, and was not included in the list. The
WDS position is that of the precise coordinates of the primary member of the
pair.
An entry consists of an initial line containing the pair's WDS id,
discoverer id, and the magnitude of both the primary and secondary stars.
The first and last observations of the stars position angle (θ) and
separation (ρ) are listed in the next line.
The third line gives the WDS's precise J2000 coordinates. This is followed
by a table showing the 5 (or less) catalog stars closest to the WDS pair. The
table entries consist of:
- The catalog name.
- The star's designation by that catalog.
- It's visual magnitude.
- It's distance, in arc seconds, from the WDS primary star's position.
If the WDS listing of the primary's visual magnitude gave it two decimal
places of accuracy, the text "precise mv" is added to the WDS designators.
If there were no catalog stars found near the WDS star, or that the
closest magnitude was greater than 4 magnitudes from the WDS magnitude, that
entry is printed in red as
Not Found.
If a pair that was Not Found had a note in the WDS
catalog, the text "WDS note" was added to the Not Found text.
A list of the pairs that were not found is given at the bottom of the
listing.