SLoWPoKES-II: 100,000 Wide Binaries Identified in SDSS without Proper Motions

Understand

We present the SLoWPoKES-II catalog of low-mass visual binaries identified from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey by matching photometric distances.

• The candidate pairs are vetted by comparing the stellar density at their respective Galactic positions to Monte Carlo realizations of a simulated Milky Way.
• In this way, we are able to identify large numbers of bona fide wide binaries without the need of proper motions.
• 105,537 visual binaries with angular separations of $\sim$1-20", are identified, each with a probability of chance alignment of $\lesssim$5%.