binary star

noun

: a system of two stars that revolve around each other under their mutual gravitation

Examples of binary star in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Astronomers detected a non-thermal emission from a classical nova with a dwarf companion and reported no young binary stars near the Milky Way’s central black hole. Lawrence Jackson, Harper's Magazine, 10 July 2023 By understanding these binary stars and their evolution in more detail, her team is striving to figure out how to more systematically search for, and thus understand, these merger events. Sophia Chen, Ars Technica, 13 Feb. 2023 The outburst came from a strange array of cooler molecules, not the helium and hydrogen spewed by binary stars. Matt Hrodey, Discover Magazine, 11 May 2023 As well as uncovering many more asteroids than were previously thought to exist, DR3 contains the largest ever binary star catalog for the Milky Way as well as millions of galaxies and quasars beyond our Milky Way. Jamie Carter, Forbes, 25 June 2022 That’s what researchers believe happened to the binary star VFTS 243 in the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud. Caroline Delbert, Popular Mechanics, 19 July 2022 Details of the millimeter wavelength observations of the extremely young 10,000-year-old binary star system NGC 1333-IRAS2A, as reported this week in the journal Nature indicate that planetary systems around binary stars may be very different from those around single stars. Bruce Dorminey, Forbes, 27 May 2022 In 2022, Gaia released the first results from its star survey of more than 813,000 binary star systems, providing accurate measurements which led to the discovery of these two black holes. Camille Fine, USA TODAY, 5 Apr. 2023 Richardson and Pavao also worked with physicist Jan J. Eldridge at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, an expert on binary star systems and their evolution. Ashley Strickland, CNN, 1 Feb. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'binary star.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1826, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of binary star was in 1826

Dictionary Entries Near binary star

Cite this Entry

“Binary star.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/binary%20star. Accessed 1 Oct. 2023.

Kids Definition

binary star

noun
: a system of two stars that revolve around each other under the gravitation of both

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