SIMBAD references

First results of the optical speckle interferometry carried out with the 3.5 m telescope of the Centro Astronómico Hispano-Alemán (CAHA, Almería, Spain) in 2005 July for visual binaries are presented. Fifty stars with separations between 0".058 and 2".1 were observed. Two new (COU 490 and A 2257) and six improved orbits along with their systemic masses are calculated. The obtained dynamical parallaxes in conjunction with the overview of spectral and photometric data allowed us to make the first rough distance estimates for COU 490 (145 pc) and A 2257 (210 pc). Total masses of pairs with both new and improved orbits are given, being generally concordant with their known spectral types and photometric data. We conclude that high-quality optical speckle data on binaries with separations close to its diffraction limit can routinely be obtained with the 3.5 m telescope.