What is a binary star?
Q: What is a binary star?
A: A binary star is two stars which orbit around each other.
Q: What is the brighter star called in a binary star system?
A: The brighter star is called the primary star.
Q: What allows scientists to find out the masses of binary stars?
A: Looking at the orbits of binary stars allows scientists to find out their masses.
Q: What is the difference between binary stars and line-of-sight optical double stars?
A: Binary stars are closer together and connected by gravity, while line-of-sight optical double stars may only look close together but are not connected by gravity.
Q: Who discovered and proved true binary stars?
A: William Herschel was the first person to discover and prove true binary stars.
Q: What did John Herschel do regarding the discovery of binary stars?
A: John Herschel found several thousand more binary stars and updated the catalogue that his father William Herschel had published.
Q: Who suggested that double stars might be physically attached to each other?
A: John Michell was the first to suggest that double stars might be physically attached to each other when he argued in 1767 that the probability that a double star was due to a chance alignment was small.
