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An eclipsing binary star is a binary star system in which the orbital plane of the two stars lies so nearly in the line of sight of the observer that the components undergo mutual eclipses. [20] In the case where the binary is also a spectroscopic binary and the parallax of the system is known, the binary is quite valuable for stellar analysis.
On the other hand, for a given system mass, a longer orbital period implies a larger separation and lower orbital velocities. Because the orbital period and orbital velocities in the binary system are related to the masses of the binary components, measuring these parameters provides some information about the masses of one or both components. [2]
The most prominent example of the classical two-body problem is the gravitational case (see also Kepler problem), arising in astronomy for predicting the orbits (or escapes from orbit) of objects such as satellites, planets, and stars. A two-point-particle model of such a system nearly always describes its behavior well enough to provide useful ...
An example of a visual binary: Theta1 Orionis C1 (lower) and C2 (upper), as imaged by VLT/GRAVITY. A visual binary is a gravitationally bound binary star system [1] that can be resolved into two stars. These stars are estimated, via Kepler's third law, to have periods ranging from a few years to thousands of years. A visual binary consists of ...
Cataclysmic variables, X-ray binaries and systems of close double white dwarfs or neutron stars are examples of systems of this type which can be explained as having undergone common envelope evolution. In all these examples there is a compact remnant (a white dwarf, neutron star or black hole) which must have been the core of a star which was ...
Solutions are also used to describe the motion of binary stars around each other, and estimate their gradual loss of energy through gravitational radiation. General relativity describes the gravitational field by curved space-time; the field equations governing this curvature are nonlinear and therefore difficult to solve in a closed form.
A binary asteroid, e.g., 90 Antiope (approx. the same mass) A further simplification is based on the "standard assumptions in astrodynamics", which include that one body, the orbiting body, is much smaller than the other, the central body. This is also often approximately valid. Examples: The Solar System orbiting the center of the Milky Way
(See animated examples.) The most common kinds of binary system are binary stars and binary asteroids, but brown dwarfs, planets, neutron stars, black holes and galaxies can also form binaries. A multiple system is similar but consists of three or more objects, for example trinary stars and trinary asteroids.