ICCD SPECKLE OBSERVATIONS OF BINARY STARS .18. AN INVESTIGATION OF BESTARS

We report on a speckle interferometric survey for duplicity among a so uthern sky sample of Be stars. Within the detection regime of this spe ckle survey we find 5 binaries in a sample of 48 bright Be stars, and one of these, HD 54309, is a new discovery. A recent spectrum in the H alpha region of this star shows no obvious evidence of the companion. The binary frequency of Be stars in the observed period range is simi lar to that of dwarf stars in general. In addition to this survey, all past CHARA CCD observations of Be stars have been re-digitized and re -analyzed with the goal of further investigating stars of this type. R esults from this re-analysis are also presented. (C) 1997 American Ast ronomical Society.