| Masses of Binary stars |
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| An
example. Suppose we measured the
period in a |
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| spectroscopic
binary and knew the spectral types (and hence the |
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| masses,
as we shall see) of the component stars.
The period is 2 |
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| years
(P = 2 years) and the stars are a G star (1 solar mass) and |
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| a M
star (0.5 solar masses). What is the
separation? |
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| MA+MB = 1.5 MSun |
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| 1.5 x (2)2 = (a/1 AU)3 |
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| 6 = (a/1 AU)3 |
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| 1.8 AU
= a |
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