In observational astronomy, a double star is a pair of stars that appear close to each other in the sky as seen from Earth when viewed through an optical telescope. This can happen either because the pair forms a binary star, i.e. a binary system of stars in mutual orbit, gravitationally bound to each other, or because it is an optical double, a chance alignment of two stars in the sky that lie at different distances. Binary stars are important to stellar astronomers as knowledge of their motions allows direct calculation of stellar mass and other stellar parameters.
Since the beginning of the 1780s, both professional and amateur double star observers have telescopically measured the distances and angles between double stars to determine the relative motions of the pairs. If the relative motion of a pair determines a curved arc of an orbit, or if the relative motion is small compared to the common proper motion of both stars, it may be concluded that the pair is in mutual orbit as a binary star. Otherwise, the pair is optical. Multiple stars are also studied in this way, although the dynamics of multiple stellar systems are more complex than those of binary stars.
There are three types of paired stars:
- optical doubles — unrelated stars which appear close together through chance alignment with Earth
- visual binaries — gravitationally-bound stars which are separately visible with a telescope
- non-visual binaries — stars whose binary status was deduced through more esoteric means such as occultation (eclipsing binaries), spectroscopy (spectroscopic binaries), or anomalies in proper motion (astrometric binaries).
Conceptually, there is no difference between the latter two categories, and improvements in telescopes can shift previously non-visual binaries into the visual class, as happened with Polaris in 2006. Thus it is only our inability to observe the third group telescopically that makes the difference.
Read more about Double Star: History, Observation of Double Stars, Distinction Between Binary Stars and Other Double Stars, Designations
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