double stars
Two bright luminaries
Double stars are pairs of stars that appear close together in the sky.
Some are optical doubles—unrelated stars that happen to lie along the same line of sight from Earth.
Others are binary stars, gravitationally bound and orbiting each other.
Astronomers study double stars to measure stellar masses and distances: The telescope revealed the double star's companion.
Two matching things
- orbitCurved celestial path
- companionOne who keeps company
- gravitationalRelating to mass-based attraction
- eclipsingObscuring by surpassing
spectroscopic · barycenter · separation · primary · secondary · Sirius · Alpha Centauri · tidal forces
Instrument magnifying faraway objects
- observatoryFacility for celestial study
- astronomyScience of celestial objects
- astrophysicsPhysics of celestial bodies
- resolutionFormal decision or determination
seeing · aperture · splitting · eyepiece · magnification · star chart · constellation · celestial
Huge luminous evolved star
- red giantAged star with cooled, expanded envelope
- white dwarfExhausted star's compact corpse
- main sequenceStable stellar burning phase
- magnitudeSize or scale
brightness · luminosity · fusion · photosphere · variable star · giant star · dwarf star · solar mass
pair
Two matching things
- orbitCurved celestial path
- companionOne who keeps company
- gravitationalRelating to mass-based attraction
eclipsing · spectroscopic · barycenter · separation · primary · secondary · Sirius · Alpha Centauri · tidal forces
telescope
Instrument magnifying faraway objects
- observatoryFacility for celestial study
- astronomyScience of celestial objects
- astrophysicsPhysics of celestial bodies
resolution · seeing · aperture · splitting · eyepiece · magnification · star chart · constellation · celestial · declination
supergiant
Huge luminous evolved star
- red giantAged star with cooled, expanded envelope
- white dwarfExhausted star's compact corpse
- main sequenceStable stellar burning phase
magnitude · brightness · luminosity · fusion · photosphere · variable star · giant star · dwarf star · solar mass · intensity
- Celestial Objectsplanets, moons, comets, galaxies, nebulae
- stargazingtelescope, stargazing guides, night sky, constellation, telescopes
- Herschel discoveriesUranus, Titania, Oberon, Enceladus, infrared
- Binary Starsbinary star, barycenter
- Star CatalogsMessier, catalog numbers, designations, Tycho, HIP
- astronomymoon, sun, planet, planets, star