Binary Star Systems
- The Doppler effect can be used to identify eclipsing binary star systems
- An eclipsing binary star system is
Where two stars orbit around a common centre of mass with their orbital plane in the Earth's line of sight
- This means that, when observed from Earth, the stars cross in front of each other as they orbit, appearing to periodically eclipse one another
- They can be identified from their characteristic light curves
Light Curve of an Eclipsing Binary
The light intensity curve of an eclipsing binary shows periodic dips of two different sizes
- The primary minima (the larger dip) are caused by the larger star passing in front of the smaller star
- The secondary minima (the smaller dip) are caused by the smaller star passing in front of the large star
