Contributions of the Pulkovo and Kharkiv Scientific Schools to the search for exoplanets and low-mass dark satellites of stars

Abstract

This article is devoted to the Pulkovo astronomer, Prof. Aleksandr Nikolaevich Deich (Deutsch) (1899-1986), on the 110-th anniversary of his birth. Deich is known as the founder of the Pulkovo program for observing stars with invisible companions, as well as for his research on the star 61 Cyg, which was suspected, in his time, of having invisible companions with the masses of planets. Astrometric observations on the long focus astrograph and searches for exoplanets of nearby stars are reviewed. Modern methods of searching for exoplanets are summarized briefly. Instrument designs proposed by astronomers at Kharkiv (Scientific Research Institute of Astronomy at Kharkiv National University, NIIA KhNU) and Kazan (Institute of Astronomy, Kazan State University, AO KGU) for use in the search for low-mass dark components of stars are discussed. Examples are given of confirmations of invisible companions of stars which were first discovered by observation. A number of theoretical results on this topic from Kharkiv National University (Scientific Research Institute of Astronomy at Kharkiv and the Dept. of Astronomy) are noted.