The catalogue of spectroscopic binary orbits (SB) is a compilation of orbital data for spectroscopic binary stars which have been produced since 1969 by Alan Henry Batten of the Dominion Astrophysical ObservatoryThe SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System Alan H Batten entry Retrieved February 2015 and various collaborators. At the 24th International Astronomical Union general assembly, in 2000, a working group was established to take responsibility for maintenance of the catalogue, and to take it from a paper based system to an online database.IAU official website Introduction to SB9 version of the catalogue. 16 October 2003 The 9th catalogue was published in 2004.
As of 7 August 2009, the catalogue database contained information on over 2940 binary systems, increasing to 3722 in March 2019. The main components of the current SB9 catalogue, as a work in progress, can be downloaded in gzipped tar ball format.Current SB9 database, 3722 entries for version:2019-03-04 10:04:25.990702480 +0100
Applications The catalogue is used for a variety of purposes: Completeness assessments and statistical analysis Generation of H–R diagrams and definition of shortest period Computation of period & eccentricity relationships
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