View Single Post
  #1  
Old August 7th 12, 04:15 AM posted to sci.astro.amateur
Sam Wormley[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,966
Default Most very bright stars have companions

Most very bright stars have companions
Interaction with binary partners affects the life and death of the heaviest stars.

http://www.physicstoday.org/daily_ed...ave_companions

With masses at least 15 times that of the Sun, type-O stars are the heaviest and brightest of all. And because they live only a few million years, they're quite rare. Having analyzed the O-star populations of six nearby star clusters, a team led by Hugues Sana (Amsterdam University) has concluded that over 70% of O stars—far more than had been thought—have binary companions close enough to exchange matter with them.


--
-Sam Wormley