OBSERVATIONS OF WIDE BINARY PAIRS IN THE FAR SOUTHERN SKY

Astrometric CCD observations have been made of wide (approximately 3 t o 80 arcsec) southern binary pairs using the 0.6 m telescope at MSSSO. Separations rho and position angles (PA) have been calibrated against known astrometric pairs, and have rms uncertainties of 0.16 arcsec an d 7.8/rho degrees (rho in arcsec) respectively. These stars have not b een well studied; typically they have not been measured since approxim ately 1930, and 52% of them have been observed only once prior to our observations. A comparison has been made with values published in the Washington Double Star (WDS) catalogue. Of the 304 pairs measured in t he declination range -60-degrees to -70-degrees, 82% show no evidence of motion since the last observation.