Special tasks include celestial scanning in electromagnetic wavelengths shorter or longer than visible light waves.

This number signifies that in the catalog, Sirius is the 1591st star listed in the declination zone between −16 and −17 degrees, counting from 0 hours right ascension.

Many astronomical research projects—from studies of celestial mechanics and the Solar System, up to the nascent field of astrophysics—were made possible by the publication of the atlas and data of the Bonner Durchmusterung.

This led the scientific community to supplement the BD with two additional astrometric surveys carried out by observatories located in the Southern Hemisphere: Córdoba, Argentina, and Cape Town, South Africa.

This astrometric project led to the Catalogues of Fundamental Stars of the Berlin observatory, and was used as an exact coordinate frame for the BD and AGK.