Related papers: Solar System Binaries
As to April 2010, 48 TNO (trans-Neptunian Object) binaries have been found. This is about 6% of known TNOs. However, in previous theoretical studies of planetary formation in the TNO region, the effect of binary formation has been…
The solar galactic neighbourhood contains a number of young co-moving associations of stars (so-called `young moving groups') with ages of ~10--150 Myr, which are prime targets for a range of scientific studies, including direct imaging…
Recent works have identified that rapidly rotating stars are predominantly binaries with separations of a few to a few tenths of au. This is a crucial range of separation that is often inaccessible to searches of binary stars, providing a…
Stars are mostly found in binary and multiple systems, as at least 50% of all solar-like stars have companions - a fraction that goes up to 100% for the most massive stars. Moreover, a large fraction of them will interact in some way or…
Multiplicity is ubiquitous among massive stars. While the stellar components usually display similar masses, some binaries with extremely low mass ratios were also observed. Some of them are primordial, while others arise from binary…
Most massive stars are found in the center of dense clusters, and have a companion fraction much higher than their lower mass siblings; the massive stars of the Trapezium core in Orion have ~ 1.5 companions each. This high multiplicity…
We discuss the detectability of gravitationally bounded pairs of gas-giant planets (which we call "binary planets") in extrasolar planetary systems that are formed through orbital instability followed by planet-planet dynamical tides during…
Orbital resonances are ubiquitous in the Solar system. They play a decisive role in the long term dynamics, and in some cases the physical evolution, of the planets and of their natural satellites, as well as the evolution of small bodies…
Quasar pairs are either physically distinct binary quasars or the result of gravitational lensing. The majority of known pairs are in fact lenses, with a few confirmed as binaries, leaving a population of objects that have not yet been…
Many, possibly most, stars form in binary and higher-order multiple systems. Therefore, the properties and frequency of binary systems provide strong clues to the star-formation process, and constraints on star-formation models. However,…
Searches for planets in close binary systems explore the degree to which stellar multiplicity inhibits or promotes planet formation. There is a degeneracy between planet formation models when only systems with single stars are…
Dynamical interactions that take place between objects in dense stellar systems lead to frequent formation of exotic stellar objects, unusual binaries, and systems of higher multiplicity. They are most important for the formation of…
Astronomers have discovered that both planets and binaries are abundant throughout the Galaxy. In combination, we know of over 100 planets in binary and higher-order multi-star systems, in both circumbinary and circumstellar configurations.…
Most main sequence stars, unlike our Sun, belong to multiple systems with two or more stars. How and when these multiples come together and become bound is uncertain, since the earliest stages of star formation are difficult to resolve. We…
Binary interactions are commonplace among massive stars, giving rise observed phenomena such as X-ray binaries, stripped stars & supernovae, and gravitational-wave sources. The multiplicity properties of massive stars thus represent a…
The formation of massive stars is one of the major unsolved problems in stellar astrophysics. However, only few if any of these are found as single stars, on average massive stars have more than one companion. Many of them are born in dense…
As indicated by their special characteristics, the cold classical Kuiper belt objects (KBOs) formed and survived at 42-47 au. Notably, they show a large fraction of equal-size binaries whose formation is probably related to the accretion of…
The statistical properties of planets in binaries were investigated. Any difference to planets orbiting single stars can shed light on the formation and evolution of planetary systems. As planets were found around components of binaries…
Stellar binaries may form through several formation pathways, including disk or core fragmentation. Their spin-orbit angles are a signature of formation, although individual measurements for visual binaries are limited and broad. A seminal…
It is unclear how very close binary stars form, given that during the pre-main-sequence phase the component stars would have been inside each other. One hypothesis is that they formed further apart, but were brought in closer after…