Identifying Common Proper Motion Binary Star Systems (Research Topics for Amateur Astronomers) (Volume 1)

Data mining using the recently published 1500 square degree near infrared proper motion catalogue from the UKIDSS Large Area Survey has yielded 1220 common proper motion binary star systems of which 1129 appear to be new discoveries. Each component of a common proper-motion pair can be considered to be at the same distance from the observer, of the same age and subject to the same degree of reddening. These pairs are an interesting area for both amateur and professional astronomers to research because they do not fall into either of the extensively studied groups of orbiting binary stars or open clusters. Only a small proportion of the astronomical data mining and astronomical imaging projects I carried out over the last 20 years went through the lengthy – and sometimes controversial – process of third-party publication. Some of the rest of my work has appeared on assorted web sites or within specialist society “news groups” but much of it remains unpublished. The long-established scientific principle “first to publish gets the credit” means that without publication taking place it is almost as if the work had never been done! “Research Topics for Amateur Astronomers” will be a multi-volume series containing two types of material. Research Notes are intended to share discoveries, ideas or techniques of interest to astronomers. Articles equate to a traditional peer reviewed article.