Binary

[ken rigg]

Can sombody explain the term Binary when describing pairs of stars,thanks.

[oldfruit]

A binary star has a companion star, double star if you like.

[oldfruit]

Dicytionary says, composed of, or involving 2 things.

[Dazzio]

There is two kinds of people, those that understand binary...

Sorry, couldn't resist a computer joke.

Dazz

[ken rigg]

Thanks for the replies,this must be my twin

[brianb]

physical binary - two stars in orbit around each other

optical binary - two stars which happen to be very nearly in the same line of sight but which are at very different distances

[ken rigg]

That realy makes the article i was reading clear to me now (The most famous is undoubtedly Mizar which keen eyesight will reveal as a wide double with Alcor.The two stars are at slightly different distances,however,so they are not a binary pair).