Symbiotic Stars
Monday, February 22, 2010 - 18:35
in Astronomy & Space
(PhysOrg.com) -- Many, perhaps even most stars, are members of binaries -- two stars that orbit each other. Symbiotic stars are a small subset of binaries with an attitude: they display characteristic, dramatic, episodic changes in the spectra of their light because (it is thought) one star of pair is a very hot, small star while the other is a cool giant.