A Conversation for Binary Star Systems

I felt I had to...

Post 1

Binaryboy

Hello there Joanna -

Cool entry. But may I just ask, are there star systems with greater than 2 stars in them, and in this case, does all that 3-body problem wierdness happen to them? Because that would be odd.

Yours in binaryness, BB


I felt I had to...

Post 2

J'au-æmne

I suppose its possible... but I guess they'd be more inclined to be in stable orbits of each other, because over long periods of time one star I guess could leave the system, or collide with another star in the system... But I don't know. Catastrophe may even happen over relatively short periods of time, so we'd be very unlikely to see a chaotic triple system. Perhaps.


I felt I had to...

Post 3

Astronomer

There is none chaotic multiple system known.
Triple systems are a couple orbited by a more distant star.
Quadruple systems are two couples that orbit each other.


I felt I had to...

Post 4

R. Daneel Olivaw -- (User 201118) (Member FFFF, ARS, and DOS) ( -O- )

There's another way to have a triple binary, although I haven't heard of any like this having been found. You can have two stars orbiting each other, with a third star at one of the Lagrange (I hope I spelled that right) points. Does anyone know if any system like this has been found?


I felt I had to...

Post 5

Astronomer

I never heard of a system like that, though it would be difficult to identify one. Certainly, in a vast Universe like ours, there is a possibility...
Allen


I felt I had to...

Post 6

R. Daneel Olivaw -- (User 201118) (Member FFFF, ARS, and DOS) ( -O- )

I checked back on the Lagrange idea. It won't work because the third star wuld have to be so much smaller than the second and the middle sized one and the middle sized one would have to be so much smaller than the large one that either the large one would be too unstable or the small one wouldn't be a star. It would work, though, if the obsect at the L4 or L5 point was a planet.


I felt I had to...

Post 7

Astronomer

Can you detail a little bit more how these conclusions were reached?
Marcelo Allen


Key: Complain about this post

Write an Entry

"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."

Write an entry
Read more