DISCOVERY OF A NEW BRIGHT CLOSE DOUBLE STAR

We report in this note the discovery of a close double star. The binar ity of the bright star SAO 12917 is determined from visible speckle in terferometry with the Bernard Lyot telescope. The separation and the p osition angle of the binary system are measured together with a relati ve photometry in the three visible spectral bands B, V and R. The data reduction is performed making use of a cross-correlation technique, d erived from the speckle masking technique. We discuss the nature of th e components and roughly estimate that the period of this double star system is about 13 years.