Speckle Interferometry at the US Naval Observatory. VIII. The results of 2044 speckle interferometric observations of doublestars, made with the 26 inch (66 cm) refractor of the US NavalObservatory, are presented. Each speckle interferometric observation ofa system represents a combination of over a thousand short-exposureimages. These observations are averaged into 1399 mean positions andrange in separation from 0.16" to 14.97", with a mean separation of2.51". This is the eighth in a series of papers presenting measuresobtained with this system and covers the period 2001 March 18 through2001 December 30.
Kinematics and properties of F stars near the North Galactic Pole. II - The isothermal disc Radial velocities are given for about 550 photometrically-identifieddisk-population F stars lying within 15 deg of the North Galactic Pole.The overall radial and z-velocity distributions are found to be closelyGaussian, with corrected rms and mean z velocities of 11.3 + or - 0.6and -9.5 + or - 0.5 km/s, respectively. The isothermal kinematics of thepopulation are reflected in the constant velocity dispersion to a zdistance of 400 pc. No systematic variation of either the velocitydispersion or the stellar age with the metallicity-sensitive Stromgrendelta m1 index is noted over a range of ages up to 5 Gyr.
