The Astrology of Space - Matrix Software

The Astrology of Space
Physical Doubles or Binaries
Around 1767 it was recognized that most close pairs
are not all optical (chance alignment), but in fact many
double stars are physically associated with one
another. These we called Physical Doubles or Binary
Stars. One of the diagrams above shows an unequal
binary system in orbit around a common center of
gravity. Perhaps the most famous binary system is
that of Sirius found in 1834. The bright star Sirius
displayed a "weaving" sort of proper motion through
space and it was deduced that this perturbed motion
was caused by the presence of an invisible
companion. The companion was discovered in 1862
and is only one ten-thousandth of the luminosity of its
primary (Sirius) and is now known to be a dense star
called a white-dwarf. Most binary systems can only
be resolved into two distinct components through the
use of a large telescope and a device called a filar
micrometer.
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