Summary of 98 Double Star Catalogs
This selection is drawn from the January, 2015 Washington Double Star Catalog, which contained 770 unique catalog designations. Each astronomer or observatory is credited with a total number of objects (unique WDS ID numbers); all catalogs listed here are credited with at least six pairs judged to be "high probability physical systems." These are identified using the auditing method adopted for the Cambridge Double Star Atlas, 2nd ed. (2015). The auditing method calculates a Q score (physicality score) as follows. (1) Points are added if the projected separation is less than 5,000 AU (for pairs where a parallax distance is available for the primary star), if there is a small or no divergence in the relative proper motion of the components, if there is a flag in WDS that indicates a physical pair based on CPM or parallax evidence (or both), and if there is a calculated orbit of "preliminary" to "definitive" quality in the Sixth Orbital Catalog. (2) Points are subtracted if there is a projected separation greater than 50,000 AU, or there is evidence that the pair is optical (a linear solution in Sixth Orbital, very divergent proper motions, discrepant parallax distances, or an "optical" or "bogus" WDS flag). Dynamic indicators have a greater weight than projected separation, and orbital motion greater weight than CPM. Pairs that have no evidence either way will have a score of 0. This score identifies pairs within WDS that have the highest probability of being physical systems or the highest probability of being pair asterisms, or pairs that are ambiguous and lack evidence either way. The table lists the astronomer or observatory credited with the double star entry in WDS; the catalog ID; the total number of objects in the catalog; the number of "high probability" physical systems with a Q score greater than 3; the ratio of high probability to total catalog entries; and, for the "high probability" pairs in that catalog, the average Q score, average separation (ρ) in arcseconds and average pair magnitude of components. The most productive catalogs were compiled by F.W. Struve, R.G. Aitken, R.A. Rossiter, W. Hussey and the U.S. Naval Observatory. Note that "discovery" attributions cannot be confidently credited to individual astronomers: in particular, of the more than 700 independent double star discoveries made by William Herschel, only 179 are still credited to him in WDS. The catalogs with the highest yield of physical systems were by Hussey, F.W. Struve, O. Struve, Shaya & Olling, Ahad, Sellors and Alvan Clark. Many modern catalogs rely on apertures or interferometry beyond the reach of amateur observers and are excluded on visual criteria alone, although they contain many undoubtedly physical pairs. In contrast, the catalogs by Espin, Jonckheere, Pourteau, Greaves, Milburn and others are huge compendiums of optical chaff. Across the entire WDS, 670 catalogs consist of 5 or fewer attributions and 565 of those contribute no physical pairs. The 98 catalogs listed here identify a total number of 11,247 probable physical systems within reach of amateur astronomers, 98% of the WDS total.
Astronomer or Observatory	Catalog ID	Number of Objects	Number of Physical Systems	Ratio of Physical Systems	Average Q	Average rho	Average Mag.Sum
F.W. Struve	STF	3018	1349	0.45	11.1	35.3	7.95
R.G. Aitken	A	3088	1168	0.38	9.1	5.9	9.12
R.A. Rossiter	RST	5503	890	0.16	7.8	1.7	10.03
W. Hussey	HU	1593	726	0.46	9.0	3.0	9.21
USNO Astrographic Catalog	UC	5056	698	0.14	8.9	36.1	13.07
R.T.A. Innes	I	1519	580	0.38	8.8	5.3	8.74
S. Burnham	BU	1504	548	0.36	10.4	29.6	7.71
W. van den Bos	B	2898	527	0.18	8.1	5.2	9.37
B. Skiff	SKF	2498	415	0.17	10.1	22.2	12.80
P. Couteau	COU	2671	408	0.15	8.0	1.4	10.17
J. Herschel	HJ	5167	375	0.07	9.9	21.6	9.37
O. Struve	STT	551	259	0.47	12.0	42.4	7.18
Hipparcos catalog	HDS	3371	223	0.07	7.9	2.0	8.91
H.F. Donner	DON	1102	208	0.19	7.7	2.5	10.11
P. Muller	MLR	650	158	0.24	8.1	1.9	9.75
W.J. Luyten	LDS	5876	155	0.03	10.0	62.2	13.95
E.J. Shaya & R. Olling	SHY	178	152	0.85	9.3	881.1	6.88
G.W. Hough	HO	612	150	0.25	10.1	16.6	8.55
R. Caballero	CBL	546	125	0.23	9.8	31.9	13.67
T.E. Espin	ES	2650	109	0.04	8.4	10.3	10.06
G.W. Hough	GWP	1638	107	0.07	9.3	56.9	13.54
M.K. Jessup	JSP	918	102	0.11	7.7	4.2	10.26
W.D. Heintz	HEI	881	98	0.11	7.6	2.4	10.55
R. Jonckheere	J	2926	98	0.03	8.8	7.2	10.64
W.S. Finsen	FIN	421	79	0.19	8.4	2.4	8.62
Astronomische Gesellschaft	AG	384	72	0.19	10.0	17.0	9.45
T.J.J. See	SEE	401	70	0.18	9.5	13.1	8.01
E.S. Holden	HLD	167	66	0.40	9.4	14.1	9.24
Burnham proper motion	BPM	2460	64	0.03	9.3	86.4	13.89
A. Tokovinin	TOK	638	63	0.10	9.7	335.0	7.99
Cordoba Observatory	COO	286	61	0.21	9.2	8.5	8.73
R. Benavides	BVD	336	59	0.18	10.5	28.8	12.45
J. Dunlop	DUN	165	47	0.29	11.2	46.6	6.15
N.R. Deacon et al.	DEA	93	44	0.47	8.4	53.6	9.72
B.H. Dawson	DAW	219	41	0.19	8.4	6.2	9.70
S. Lepine	LEP	115	37	0.32	9.8	199.6	8.99
Cape Observatory	CPO	703	34	0.05	8.9	8.0	10.56
J. South	S	153	33	0.22	10.5	80.9	7.15
J. Greaves	GRV	1224	33	0.03	10.2	36.3	12.01
H.A. Howe	HWE	99	31	0.31	10.5	9.0	8.44
H. Giclas	GIC	189	30	0.16	10.2	118.2	12.24
W. Herschel	H	179	29	0.16	10.2	68.9	6.55
J. Stock & H. Wroblewski	SWR	151	28	0.19	10.2	21.1	11.02
F. Kustner	KU	130	27	0.21	9.8	31.4	9.81
G.P. Kuiper	KUI	121	26	0.22	12.4	15.4	7.62
O. Struve supplement	STTA	151	26	0.17	11.0	87.5	7.45
H.C. Russell	R	222	26	0.12	10.1	19.1	9.52
W. Milburn	MLB	1026	26	0.03	8.5	8.8	10.80
J. South & J. Herschel	SHJ	71	24	0.34	9.5	99.8	6.20
J.L. Halbwachs	HJL	95	24	0.25	11.0	141.4	8.43
W. Struve supplemental catalog	STFA	50	22	0.44	12.6	169.5	5.80
O. Stone	STN	55	22	0.40	9.2	7.2	8.80
R. Baillaud	BAL	1923	22	0.01	9.0	11.9	10.90
F. Damm	DAM	800	21	0.03	8.6	14.3	11.39
Harvard Observatory	HDO	247	20	0.08	10.7	23.6	7.78
A. Kruger	KR	49	19	0.39	9.8	21.8	9.65
C.P. Oliver	OL	138	18	0.13	9.0	3.8	10.36
S.G. Barton	BRT	3112	18	0.01	8.1	4.3	11.44
A. Ahad	AHD	32	15	0.47	9.9	20.8	10.07
P. Fox	FOX	321	15	0.05	8.3	30.1	9.57
R.P. Sellors	SLR	24	14	0.58	11.8	3.2	7.68
New Zealand Observatory	NZO	94	14	0.15	8.4	5.6	10.13
J.M. Gilliss	GLI	106	14	0.13	9.7	26.5	8.69
J. Stein	STI	2094	14	0.01	10.2	9.9	11.50
C.E. Worley	WOR	42	13	0.31	10.0	8.1	10.40
Tcyho catalog part I	TDS	9900	13	0.00	8.8	1.2	11.02
A. Clark	AC	17	12	0.71	15.7	45.0	6.49
M.P. Nicholson	NI	30	12	0.40	10.8	15.8	12.05
E.E. Barton	BAR	64	12	0.19	8.5	37.3	9.85
L. Hargrave	HRG	101	11	0.11	10.2	11.6	9.83
W.S. Jacob	JC	24	9	0.38	11.6	73.9	6.02
E. Doolittle	DOO	90	9	0.10	8.4	17.0	10.27
G.M. Popovic	POP	209	9	0.04	8.6	19.3	10.94
Tcyho catalog part II	TDT	4276	9	0.00	8.2	1.4	11.04
M.A. Pourteau	POU	5454	9	0.00	7.8	11.1	12.49
H. Dembowski	D	32	8	0.25	10.3	44.0	8.37
various (the Astronomical Journal)	TSN	113	8	0.07	9.3	135.9	13.53
J. Gallo	GAL	158	8	0.05	9.3	18.4	9.93
F.M. Rica Romero	FMR	229	8	0.04	9.9	42.8	14.13
R. Engelmann	ENG	89	7	0.08	10.8	140.4	7.04
S. van den Bergh	BGH	19	7	0.37	12.6	290.4	8.07
F.P. Leavenworth	LV	25	7	0.28	8.2	40.1	8.73
Brisbane Observatory	BSO	22	7	0.32	14.1	49.6	6.40
Washington Naval Observatory	WNO	56	7	0.13	11.5	120.5	11.21
I.T. Falcon	ITF	75	7	0.09	9.9	54.0	13.15
F. Argelander	ARG	95	7	0.07	8.9	24.8	9.15
J.M. Rousseau	RSS	487	7	0.01	9.7	18.0	9.19
A.N. Vyssotsky	VYS	13	6	0.46	11.6	4.4	10.57
W.R. Dawes	DA	13	6	0.46	9.5	14.2	7.15
K.L. Luhman	LUH	16	6	0.38	11.5	127.6	8.92
C. Rumker	RMK	20	6	0.30	8.7	16.6	5.66
M. Weisse	WEI	26	6	0.23	11.3	51.3	9.14
La Plata Observatory	LPO	72	6	0.08	7.3	6.0	9.54
Bordeaux catalog	BPMA	94	6	0.06	10.4	226.0	13.87
D. Arnold	ARN	110	6	0.06	10.5	142.5	7.79
Yale Observatory	WFC	273	6	0.02	10.7	14.3	10.14
J. Chivers	CVR	1741	6	0.00	10.7	17.6	16.95