The U.S. Naval Observatory has produced its second CDROM of double star catalogs. This successor to the 2001.0 CDROM includes the latest versions (June 30 2006) of four major double star catalogs maintained at the USNO:

• • Washington Double Star Catalog (WDS),

• • Second Photometric Magnitude Difference Catalog,

• • Fourth Catalog of Interferometric Measurements of Binary Stars, and

• • Sixth Catalog of Orbits of Visual Binary Stars.

Each of these catalogs had seen significant changes during the past six years; for example, the WDS has grown by over 150,000 measures and the number of systems in the Interferometric Catalog has nearly doubled. Other improvements include precise coordinates for the vast majority of systems, as well as new observing lists for tens of thousands of “neglected” doubles.

Also included on this CDROM is a Catalog of Linear Elements for several hundred optical pairs. These elements should prove useful for improving the components' proper motions, as well as providing scale calibration out to several tens of arcseconds.

As was done with its predecessor, the new CDROM is automatically distributed free of charge to members of the double star community and to astronomy libraries. Others may receive a complementary copy upon request.

Changes in the double star database are highlighted, describing various methods of observation (both historically and those of the past few years) and their effectiveness in different regimes of separation space. The various niches for wide- and narrow-field work as they apply to double and multiple stars are examined and the different types of information which each can provide are described. Despite the significant growth of the double star database, much can still be done, such as finding lost pairs, filling in missing parameters so that observing programs can select all stars appropriate to their capabilities, or providing at least gross kinematic descriptions. After more than 20 years of successful work, speckle interferometry and conventional CCD astrometry have replaced filar micrometry and photography as preferred classical techniques. Indeed, most work in filar micrometry is now being done by amateurs. Work on pairs described as neglected in the last major WDS data release (2001) is given as a specific example. Finally, the continued need to publish data in classical double star parameters is also discussed.

In keeping with its co-sponsorship by members of both the “close” and “wide” binary star communities, IAU Symposium 240 has been jointly dedicated to the honor of Czech astronomer Mirek J. Plavec and the memory of U.S. astronomer Charles E. Worley.

Charles Worley, long-time astronomer at the U.S. Naval Observatory, was born on May 22, 1935, in Iowa City, Iowa, and grew up in Des Moines the son of an M.D., Charles L. Worley, and his wife Iona Cooney Worley, a homemaker. He became interested in astronomy at age nine. His first observational work as an amateur astronomer was plotting and recording more than 10,000 meteors for the American Meteor Society. Continuing his love for astronomy he attended Swarthmore College, where he took part in the parallax program as an Observing Assistant. He also met the other love of his life, his wife, Jane Piper. They were married in 1956 next to Sproul Observatory on the Swarthmore campus. He obtained a B.A. in mathematics from San Jose State College in 1959. He worked for the Lick Observatory in California (1959–1961) as a Senior Assistant and Research Astronomer under a Naval Research grant to observe double stars. After arriving at the U.S. Naval Observatory in 1961, he was the motive force behind an extensive program of double star observation (being himself, a prolific observer), instrumental innovation, and double star cataloging. He quickly gained recognition as one of the world's leading experts in the field of double star astronomy. Charles died on New Year's Eve, 1997, two days before his scheduled retirement.