A binary star is a star system consisting of two stars orbiting around their common center of mass. The more massive star is called the primary and the other is its companion star, or secondary. These systems, especially when more distant, often appear to the unaided eye as a single point of light, and are revealed as double (or more) systems when analyzed by other means.
Systems of two, three, four, or even more stars are called multiple star systems. Roughly one third of the stars in a galaxy are binary or multiple star systems.
Some binary star systems have long orbital periods of several centuries or millennia and therefore have orbits which are uncertain or poorly known.
If components in binary star systems are close enough they can gravitationally distort their mutual outer stellar atmospheres. In some cases, these close binary systems can exchange mass, which may bring their evolution to stages that single stars cannot attain.
Binary Star Systems in the Frontier
The Standard Map of The Frontier and The Rim includes fourteen binary systems (three of these in Rim space), not including the Formad Cluster.
All binary systems are classified as "uninhabitable" due to a lack of suitable planetary bodies therein; this is not to say that they are actually uninhabited: most have asteroid and (Kuyper belts and cometary shells, as well as minor rocky or gaseous planets that may house mining ventures, research facilities or even secret military, corporate or "pirate" bases.
The Frontier
- Binary Star H-D
- Binary Star M-C
- Binary Star P-A
- Binary Star M-2
- Binary Star R-13
- Binary Star 3-D
- Binary Star 5-F
- Binary Star 8-J
- Binary Star 12-M
- Binary Star 25-5
- Binary Star 16-14
The Rim
- Binary Star K-Q
- Binary Star 7-V
- Binary Star 17-T
- Formad Cluster