Name:
___________________________________________________________________________________
Date:
_ ___________
Class: ____________________________________________
How Big is That Star?
Measuring Binary Stars
Summary
You
a re going
t o be measuring the sizes of stars in binary
systems.
Background
Look at the sample light curves below. They show the brightness of a binary system
as a function of time.
Illustration of the relationship between the dips in the light curve and
the stars in a binary. The large red circle represents the larger star in
the binary
s ystem and the smaller circles represent the smaller star as it
moves through its orbit.
In a sentence,
d escribe
t he relationship
b etween t
and d
. What does d
represent?
1
1
1
In a sentence,
d escribe
t he relationship
b etween t
and d
. What does d
represent?
2
2
2
Using this information, data from
r eal binary systems, and the equation d=v t
(distance equals velocity times time), you’ll calculate the sizes of a few stars.