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Star system
A star system or stellar system is a small number of stars that orbit each other, bound by gravitational attraction. It may sometimes be used to refer to a single star. A large group of stars bound by gravitation is generally called a star cluster or galaxy, although, broadly speaking, they are also star systems. Star systems are not to be confused with planetary systems, which include planets and similar bodies (such as comets).
A star system of two stars is known as a binary star, binary star system or physical double star.
Systems with four or more components are rare, and are much less commonly found than those with 2 or 3. Multiple-star systems are called triple, ternary, or trinary if they contain three stars; quadruple or quaternary if they contain four stars; quintuple or quintenary with five stars; sextuple or sextenary with six stars; septuple or septenary with seven stars; and octuple or octenary with eight stars.
These systems are smaller than open star clusters, which have more complex dynamics and typically have from 100 to 1,000 stars.
Binary and multiple star systems are also known as a physical multiple stars, to distinguish them from optical multiple stars, which merely look close together when viewed from Earth. Multiple stars may refer to either optical or physical, but optical multiples do not form a star system.
Triple stars that are not all gravitationally bound (and thus do not form a triple star system) might comprise a physical binary and an optical companion (such as Beta Cephei) or, in rare cases, a purely optical triple star (such as Gamma Serpentis).
Research on binary and multiple stars estimates they make up about a third of the star systems in the Milky Way galaxy, with two-thirds of stars being single.
Binary stars are the most common non-single stars. With multiple star systems, the number of known systems decreases exponentially with multiplicity. For example, in the 1999 revision of Tokovinin's catalog of physical multiple stars, 551 out of the 728 systems described are triple. However, because of suspected selection effects, the ability to interpret these statistics is very limited.
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Star system
A star system or stellar system is a small number of stars that orbit each other, bound by gravitational attraction. It may sometimes be used to refer to a single star. A large group of stars bound by gravitation is generally called a star cluster or galaxy, although, broadly speaking, they are also star systems. Star systems are not to be confused with planetary systems, which include planets and similar bodies (such as comets).
A star system of two stars is known as a binary star, binary star system or physical double star.
Systems with four or more components are rare, and are much less commonly found than those with 2 or 3. Multiple-star systems are called triple, ternary, or trinary if they contain three stars; quadruple or quaternary if they contain four stars; quintuple or quintenary with five stars; sextuple or sextenary with six stars; septuple or septenary with seven stars; and octuple or octenary with eight stars.
These systems are smaller than open star clusters, which have more complex dynamics and typically have from 100 to 1,000 stars.
Binary and multiple star systems are also known as a physical multiple stars, to distinguish them from optical multiple stars, which merely look close together when viewed from Earth. Multiple stars may refer to either optical or physical, but optical multiples do not form a star system.
Triple stars that are not all gravitationally bound (and thus do not form a triple star system) might comprise a physical binary and an optical companion (such as Beta Cephei) or, in rare cases, a purely optical triple star (such as Gamma Serpentis).
Research on binary and multiple stars estimates they make up about a third of the star systems in the Milky Way galaxy, with two-thirds of stars being single.
Binary stars are the most common non-single stars. With multiple star systems, the number of known systems decreases exponentially with multiplicity. For example, in the 1999 revision of Tokovinin's catalog of physical multiple stars, 551 out of the 728 systems described are triple. However, because of suspected selection effects, the ability to interpret these statistics is very limited.