The First Photograph of a Planet Orbiting a Binary Be Star-Neutron Star System (1995)
This photograph, taken in 1995, is the first ever to capture a planet orbiting a binary star system composed of a Be star and a neutron star. The Be star is a type of star that is much larger and brighter than the Sun, and the neutron star is a remnant of a super
A binary star or binary star system is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars are among the most important objects in astrophysics because they allow direct measurement of stellar masses and test theories of stellar evolution. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved as separate stars using a telescope, in which case they are called visual binaries. Many visual binaries have long orbital periods of several centuries or millennia and therefore have orbits which are uncertain or poorly known. They may also be detected by indirect techniques, such as spectroscopy or astrometry. If a binary star happens to orbit in a plane along our line of sight, its components will eclipse and transit each other; these pairs are called eclipsing binaries, or, together with other binaries that change brightness as they orbit, photometric binaries.