You Discover a Binary Star System in Which One Member

question 85

Multiple Choice

You discover a binary star system in which one member is a15MSᵤn main-sequence star and the other star is a 10MSᵤn giant.How do we believe that a star system such as this might have come to exist?

• A)The giant must once have been the more massive star but transferred some of its mass to its companion.
• B)Despite the low odds of finding a system with two such massive stars,there is nothing surprising about the fact that such systems exist.
• C)The two stars probably were once separate but became a binary when a close encounter allowed their mutual gravity to pull them together.
• D)The main-sequence star probably is a pulsating variable star and therefore appears to be less massive than it really is.
• E)Although both stars probably formed from the same clump of gas,the more massive one must have had its birth slowed so that it became a main-sequence star millions of years later than its less massive companion.

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