PISCO2: the new speckle camera of the Nice 76-cm refractor

We present the new speckle camera PISCO2 made in 2010-2012, for the 76-cm refractor of C\^ote d'Azur Observatory. It is a focal instrument dedicated to the observation of visual binary stars using high angular resolution speckle interferometry techniques to partly overcome the degradation caused by the atmospheric turbulence. Fitted with an EMCCD detector, PISCO2 allows the acquisition of short exposure images that are processed in real time by our specially designed software. Two Risley prisms are used for correcting the atmospheric dispersion. All optical settings are remotely controlled. We have already been able to observe faint, close binary stars with angular separations as small as 0".16, and visual magnitudes of about 16. We also have measured some particularly difficult systems with a magnitude difference between the two components of about 4 magnitudes. This level of performance is very promising for the detection and study of large sets of yet unknown (or partly measured) binaries with close separation and/or large magnitude difference.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figure

Eléments orbitaux d'étoiles doubles: ADS 10279 etADS 16650

Nous présentons de nouveaux éléments orbitaux pour les étoiles doubles visuelles ADS 10279 et 16650. Ces éléments ont été obtenus en utilisant les dernières mesures que nous avons effectuées avec le tavelographe PISCO et le télescope Bernard Lyot de 2 m du Pic du Midi, et celles déjà disponibles dans la littérature