Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 September 2016
The locations of 143 B0e-B7e III-V stars listed in the Bright Star Catalogue are similar to those of the early-B Gould Belt stars. Therefore the Be stars have roughly the same ages and origins as early B stars. The frequency of runaway Be stars must be less than several percent. The radial velocities of Be stars show primarily the reflex of solar motion and show no evidence for systematically negative velocities attributable to mass-loss effects upon the absorption profiles. The scatter in the residual velocities is such that there is unlikely to be many undetected binaries with orbital amplitudes greater than 10 km s-l. We are unable to state whether or not Be stars tend to occur during the overall contraction stage, but we do observe Be stars in roughly constant frequency in clusters of all ages. About 18% of the field B0-B7 III-V stars are Be stars. Clusters show both lower and higher frequencies that may be real or may be due to different observational techniques. The frequencies and distribution of binary periods for Be stars is the same as for non-emission B stars except for the lack of periods less than 10-1 yr. Statistically the 12 classical Be stars with known orbital elements have mass functions indicating that their secondaries are more massive than neutron stars and their secondary mass distribution is like that of normal B stars. We observe 35 companions for 100 Be primaries, so after correction for undetected companions, it seems likely that most Be stars have companions, mostly with periods of years.