A new catalogue of 6330 eclipsing variable stars is presented. The catalogue was developed from the General Catalogue of Variable Stars (GCVS) and its textual remarks by including recently published information about classification of 843 systems and making corresponding corrections of GCVS data. The catalogue 1 represents the largest list of eclipsing binaries classified from observations.

Orbital binary stars are essential objects for determining dynamical and physical properties of stars through a combined analysis of photometric and astrometric data. We compiled a set of orbital binaries with known trigonometric parallaxes and orbits of high quality, using data from current versions of the Catalogue of Orbits and Ephemerides of Visual Double Stars and the Sixth Catalog of Orbits of Visual Binary Stars as well as including updated information from WDS and SIMBAD. We constructed distributions of orbital binaries among dynamical mass, period, semi-major axis, and eccentricity of systems, which characterize the set. Some problems related to the parameterization of orbital binaries are also discussed in the paper.

The mass–luminosity relation (MLR) for intermediate‐mass stars is based on data on detached double‐lined eclipsing binaries. However, there is a notable difference between the parameters of B0V–G0V components of eclipsing binaries and those of single stars. Single early‐type stars are rapid rotators, whereas tidal forces produce synchronous rotation in close binaries and all such pairs are synchronized, so components of close binaries rotate more slowly. As is well known, stellar rotation changes stellar evolution and the global parameters of a star. In this work we collect data on fundamental parameters of stars with masses m > 1.5 m⊙. They are components of binaries with P > 15 d and consequently are not synchronized with the orbital periods and presumably are rapid rotators. These stars are believed to evolve similarly with single stars. Modern data on masses, absolute and bolometric luminosities, radii and temperatures of detached main‐sequence double‐lined eclipsing binary components (i.e. presumably slow rotators) are also collected. Mass–luminosity, mass–temperature and mass–radius relations of close and wide binaries are presented, as well as their Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. For the mass range 4.5 < m/m⊙ < 5.5 (late B stars) it was found that rapid rotators exhibit slightly higher luminosities and larger radii than predicted by the standard relations, and their main sequence is shifted to the right‐hand side with respect to that of the close binary components. The resulting relations for rapidly and slowly rotating A–F and early B stars are not statistically different. As our estimations show, for the given mass range the effect on the initial mass function (IMF) is marginal, but there is no way to estimate the degree to which the effect may be important for higher masses. Available observational data for m > 12 m⊙ are too poor to make definite conclusions. Knowledge of the MLR should come from dynamical mass determinations of visual binaries combined with spatially resolved precise photometry. Then the IMF should be revised for that mass range.