Wide binaries in the direction of Andromeda

A statistically well-defined sample of candidate binary stars with separations that are expected to be mostly in the range 0.01-0.1 pc is presented. The 36 candidate pairs are all brighter than apparent visual magnitude 12; about half of the projected pairs are expected to be physically associated. After the candidates are studied spectroscopically and photometrically to establish which pairs are real binaries and to measure their physical characteristics, the sample can be used to help determine the dependence of number density on semimajor axis for wide binaries, a function that is of considerable theoretical interest.