Introduction to Binary Systems

Abstract

In order to model stars, we must first have a knowledge of their physical properties. In this chapter, we describe how we know the stellar properties that stellar models are meant to replicate. Some of our data comes from observations of nearby single stars, but much of our information comes from binary stars. We will begin by describing the orbit of a binary and how these orbits are observed. We conclude this chapter with a discussion of how stellar masses are obtained from observations of the spectra of binary stars.