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The tight relationship between mass further constraint the physical OBAFGKM (RNS): Oh Be Aand Fineluminosity Girl/Guy Kiss Me (Right Now Sweetie)! power source
and structure of stars
Boltzmann equation: excitation states
Saha equation: ionisation states
Aims of lecture
Binary stars provide important insight into the formation and evolution of stars.
As we will see, binary stars provide a direct method for determining masses.
a1
a2
a1
a2
In any binary/multiple star system the stars orbit about the centre of mass in elliptical orbits (semi-major axes of a1 and a2 for a binary system)