S: The ninth catalogue of spectroscopic binary orbits

¹ Institut d'Astronomie et d'Astrophysique, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP 226, Boulevard du Triomphe, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
² Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544-1001, USA
³ Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Casilla 603 La Serena, Chile
⁴ Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC, V8X 4M6, Canada Victoria Inst4
⁵ Center of Excellence in Information Systems, Tennessee State University, 330 10th Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37203-3401, USA
⁶ US Naval Observatory, 3450 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20392-5420, USA
⁷ Complejo Astronomico El Leoncito (CASLEO), Casilla de Correo 467, Av. España 1512 Sur, 5400 San Juan, Argentina
⁸ Las Campanas Observatory, The Carnegie Observatories, Casilla 601, La Serena, Chile
⁹ Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
¹⁰ Observatoire de Genève, Chemin des Maillettes, 1290 Sauvergny, Switzerland

Received: 3 May 2004
Accepted: 8 June 2004

Abstract

The Ninth Catalogue of Spectroscopic Binary Orbits (http://sb9.astro.ulb.ac.be) continues the series of compilations of spectroscopic orbits carried out over the past 35 years by Batten and collaborators. As of 2004 May 1st, the new Catalogue holds orbits for 2386 systems. Some essential differences between this catalogue and its predecessors are outlined and three straightforward applications are presented: (1) completeness assessment: period distribution of SB1s and SB2s; (2) shortest periods across the H-R diagram; (3) period-eccentricity relation.