Activities and Achievements of the Double Star Committee of the Société Astronomique de France

In a synthesis article (see ref. below), the double star expert Paul COUTEAU put the work of French pioneers of double stars observation in the perspective of the double star work carried in the world. After Antoine Yvon VILLARCEAU and Camille FLAMMARION, one prominent pioneer of double stars was Ro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union 2006-08, Vol.2 (S240), p.509-526
Main Authors: Agati, Jean-Louis, Caille, Sébastien, Debackère, André, Durand, Pierre, Losse, Florent, Manté, René, Mauroy, Florence, Mauroy, Pascal, Morlet, Guy, Pinlou, Claude, Salaman, Maurice, Soulié, Edgar, Thorel, Yvonne, Thorel, Jean-Claude
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astronomy
Astrophysics
Contributed Papers
Double stars
Science history
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Summary:In a synthesis article (see ref. below), the double star expert Paul COUTEAU put the work of French pioneers of double stars observation in the perspective of the double star work carried in the world. After Antoine Yvon VILLARCEAU and Camille FLAMMARION, one prominent pioneer of double stars was Robert JONCKHEERE (1888–1974), an amateur before circumstances prompted him to become a professional astronomer, who devoted his life to double stars. Kenneth Glyn Jones wrote a biography and Charles Fehrenbach his obituary. Jean-Claude Thorel studied his life and career in double star observations (see Section 10 below). In the 1930s, another precursor of the Commission des Étoiles Doubles, Maurice DURUY (1894–1984) invented the micrometer with a comparison star, and applied the diffraction micrometer invented by Ejnar Hertzsprung to the measure of double stars, which he regularly observed at Nancy with a 275-mm telescope, at Lyon with a 162-mm telescope and in his observatory of Beaume-Mêle with a 40-cm and later a 60-cm telescope at Le Rouret (Alpes–Maritimes). He measured standard pairs of the list of Paul Muller and published his measures in the Journal des Observateurs; these measures requested by Paul Muller aimed at comparisons of between observers. He also collaborated with the Webb Society of Great Britain; Glyn Jones published his astronomical biography. Already in 1924, the pediatrician Paul BAIZE (1901–1995) had started the measurement of double stars as an amateur. He was granted permission to measure them with the 38-cm of the Paris Observatory and made an impressive number of measures during his long “career" (24044). He also made orbit calculations and established a formula for the calculation of dynamic parallaxes in 1946. He wrote articles explaining new observation techniques devoted to double stars in the magazine L'Astronomie and continued his astronomical activity until the beginning of the 1990s. Glyn Jones published an astronomical biography of Paul Baize. In the 1960s, Bernard CLOUET and the late Robert SAGOT (1910–2006) made double star observations for the book which was then in preparation under the title La revue des constellations. Their measures remained unpublished; but publication of the measures made by Robert SAGOT is in preparation. At about the same time, the neurology professor Jacques LE BEAU (1908–1998) made the acquaintance of renowned professional astronomer Paul COUTEAU and learned from him how to measure double stars. E
ISSN:1743-9213
1743-9221
DOI:10.1017/S174392130700645X