Worksheets#34 Binary and Multiple stars
Total questions: 11
Worksheet time: 6mins
Stars that appear close together, even thought they are actually very far apart, are called______
a visual binary
optical double stars
Two stars that physically orbit each other are called _____
binary stars
optical double stars
What percentage of all stars in the sky are part of a binary, or multiple, star system?
3% to 15%
about 33% to 50%
If two stars of a binary system can be resolved using a telescope, they're called ____
a visual binary
optical double stars
The brightest star in the night sky, a luminous blue star, is a visual binary called____
Pleiades
Sirius
Observing the orbital motion of visual binaries allows us to calculate the masses and once that is known what else about a star can be deduced?
their temperature
its absolute brightness
how long it will live
all of the above
How many stars are gravitationally bound together in the Mizar and Alcor star system?
2
4
6
Polaris, the North star, is actually a pentuple star system, composed of _____
3
4
5
Stars that were born in the same multiple star system would likely have similar ____
elemental composition
sizes
temperatures
In an eclipsing binary, when the fainter star blocks the brighter one, we see ____
a big dip in the light
a climb in the light
Stars that get so close together that they touch each other are called _____
contact binaries
star clusters
