Binary Stars Again: Eclipses, Masses and Planets

Binary stars are some of the most important stars to study, as they are the gateway to astrophysics. We can determine their masses and we can determine many other things about them. So, here we chat more about spectroscopic and eclipsing binaries, and how a planet about the size of Earth was found orbiting the star nearest to the Sun. This is part of my complete intro Astronomy class that I taught at Willam Paterson University and CUNY Hunter.

Algol

On a Revision of Certain Spectroscopic-Binary Orbits, by R. F. Griffin

Binary Stars in General

Stellar Masses

The sky around Alpha Centauri and Proxima Centauri (annotated)

The motion of Proxima Centauri in 2016, revealing the fingerprints of a planet

SuperWASP Observations of Variable Stars

Algol at AAVSO

Main-Sequence Effective Temperatures from a Revised Mass-Luminosity Relation Based on Accurate Properties

The location of Proxima Centauri in the southern skies

Proxima Centauri and its planet compared to the Solar System

Artist's impression of the planet orbiting Proxima Centauri

Pale Red Dot: A search for Earth-like planets around Proxima Centauri

Powerful Flare from Star Proxima Centauri Detected with ALMA; puts habitability of nearby system into question

0:00 Introduction
0:01 Spectroscopic Binaries
1:18 Spectroscopic Binary Real Data
4:17 Proxima Centauri Doppler Shift due to a Planet!
6:31 Eclipsing Binaries
11:55 Eclipsing Binary: Algol, Beta Perseus
15:24 Stellar Masses from Close Binary Stars
24:07 The Doppler Effect

[leejenwin]

This is a tremendously informative series. Thank you for sharing.