Do you have any idea about a binary sun system? Well, a lot of people with no knowledge of astronomy might not have any idea about this subject. People who want to learn about the universe and its different components often wonder about different subjects existing in this field. And they always have some very important questions in their minds related to this area.
One such question that they have is “Are Earth and Sirius form a 2-Star System?” Probably, you might not have any clue about this subject but you need not worry about it. Before we delve deep into this topic to answer this question, we must throw some light on the concept of ‘binary sun/star system’.
Binary Star System
In simple words, we can say that a binary star system involves two stars orbiting around their common barycenter. In the night sky, over 80% of single points of light we see are actually two or more stars orbiting together. However, the most common type of grouping is a binary star system that involves the presence of two stars together.
Similar to this, there is a trinary or triple star system which is also very common in the sky and many researches have been performed on this subject. In a binary star system, the brighter star is termed as the primary star and the dimmer one is classified as the secondary. In other words, they can also be classified as A and B respectively on the basis of their brightness by discoverers.
Do Earth and Sirius Form a 2-Star System?
No, Earth and Sirius do not form a 2-star system. Earth is a part of a solar system that has only one star in the form of Sun. In the 1980s many studies claimed that the sun forms a two-star system in collaboration with a dwarf star known as Nemesis. However, later on, further research carried out on this subject and researchers failed to find the existence of Nemesis. And hence, they declared Sun as a one-star system.
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky and it is also known with the name Alpha Canis Majoris or the Dog Star. It is a binary star and it is present in the constellation Canis Major. And in this binary star system, the size of the brighter component is about 25.4 times as that of the Sun with a radius of 1.71 times that of the Sun.
In addition to this, it is at a distance of 8.6 light-years from the solar system. The distance between Sirius and its other star, Sirius B is about 20 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. And it has got almost the same size as that of the Sun.
Hence, in a nutshell, we can say that Earth and Sirius do not form a two-star system. The Earth has its one sun in its solar system and Sirius is a binary star as well as the brightest star in the night sky. Many researches have revealed many interesting facts about Sirius, which was first reported in 1844 by the German astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel.