Priveledged View

  • The portion of the screen labeled "Priveledged View" (below) shows two stars orbiting about their common "center of mass", as seen from above the binary star system.  It is as though you had a spaceship and could maneuver above the stellar system to see what is really happening.   One star travels along the red orbit, while the other star travels along the blue orbit.  Notice that the two stars appear to orbit around a fixed location between them.  This location is the center of mass of the system.

Please Close This Window To Return To The Applet Page

Binary1.jpg (76465 bytes)