Double Stars

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

   PDF

2. Classes of Double Stars

   • Wulff D. Heintz

   Pages 1-3

3. When Double-Star Research Began

   • Wulff D. Heintz

   Pages 3-5

4. 19th-Century Achievements

   • Wulff D. Heintz

   Pages 5-8

5. Three Quarters of This Century

   • Wulff D. Heintz

   Pages 8-10

6. Catalogues and Data References

   • Wulff D. Heintz

   Pages 10-12

7. Selective Discovery and Abundance of Binaries

   • Wulff D. Heintz

   Pages 12-17

8. Optical and Temporary Double Stars

   • Wulff D. Heintz

   Pages 17-19

9. Relative Positions in Visual Double Stars

   • Wulff D. Heintz

   Pages 19-21

10. Micrometric Observation

    • Wulff D. Heintz

    Pages 21-24

11. Interferometric Observation

    • Wulff D. Heintz

    Pages 24-26

12. Photographic Positions

    • Wulff D. Heintz

    Pages 26-28

13. Magnitudes of Double-Star Components

    • Wulff D. Heintz

    Pages 28-31

14. The Orbital Elements of a Visual Binary

    • Wulff D. Heintz

    Pages 31-34

15. Ephemeris Formulae

    • Wulff D. Heintz

    Pages 34-35

16. Dtermination of Visual Binary Orbits

    • Wulff D. Heintz

    Pages 36-40

17. The Thiele-van den Bos Method

    • Wulff D. Heintz

    Pages 40-42

18. The Methods by Danjon and Rabe

    • Wulff D. Heintz

    Pages 42-44

19. The Edge-on Orbit

    • Wulff D. Heintz

    Pages 44-45

20. Correcting an Orbit

    • Wulff D. Heintz

    Pages 46-47

Double and multiple stars are the rule in the stellar population, and single stars the minority, as the abundance of binary systems in the space surrounding the sun shows beyond doubt. Numerous stellar features, and methods of their exploration, ensue specifically from the one but widespread property, the binary nature. Stellar masses are basic quantities for the theory of stellar structure and evolution, and they are ob­ tained from binary-star orbits where they depend on the cube of observed parameters; this fact illustrates the significance of orbits as well as the accuracy requirements. Useful in dating stellar history is the knowledge that components of a system, different though they may appear, are of the same origin and age. Between star formation and the genesis of binaries a direct connection can be traced. The later stages of stellar life branch into a great variety as mutual influence between the components of a close binary pair develops. Transfer and exchange of mass and the presence of angular momentum in the orbit give rise to special tracks of evolution, not found for single stars, and to peculiar spectral groups. This is not a new story but it has a new ending: The patterns of evolution involving mass transfer appear to lead ultimately to single objects.

• Population
• star
• star formation
• sun

• Department of Astronomy, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, USA

  Wulff D. Heintz

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