Optical polarization of 1000 stars

The distances, which are presently those given in the Sky Catalogue 2000.0, 2nd Edition (Hirshfeld et al., 1991skca.book.....H) are provisional: they will be replaced later by the much safer parallaxes which will result from the Hipparcos mission. The polarization data have been compiled, for 60% in various catalogues with due care to their accuracy; for 40% they are new, unpublished, measurements obtained at Pic du Midi Observatory.

We expect that this new data base will allow a better understanding of the interstellar medium around the Sun.