  We have conducted a feasibility study to determine the effectiveness of using
USNO-B1.0 data to preferentially detect objects with displaced red and blue
components. A procedure was developed to search catalogue entries for such
objects, which include M dwarfs paired with white dwarfs or with earlier
main-sequence stars, and galaxies with asymmetric colour distributions.
Residual differences between red and blue and infrared and blue scanned
emulsion images define vectors, which, when appropriately aligned and of
sufficient length, signal potential candidates. Test sample sets were analysed
to evaluate the effective discrimination of the technique. Over 91,000
USNO-B1.0 catalogue entries at points throughout the celestial sphere were then
filtered for acceptable combinations of entry observations and magnitudes and
the resulting total of about 17,000 entries was winnowed down to a little more
than 200 objects of interest. These were screened by visual examination of
photo images to a final total of 146 candidates. About one quarter of these
candidates coincide with SDSS data. Those constituents fall into two groups,
single and paired objects. SDSS identified several galaxies in the first group.
Regarding the second group, at least half of its members were tentatively
identified as main-sequence pairs, the greater portion being of widely
separated spectral types. Two white dwarf--main-sequence pairs were also
identified. Most importantly, the vectors formed from USNO-B1.0 residuals were
in alignment with corresponding SDSS pair position angles, thereby supporting
this work`s central thesis.
