Monday, December 8, 2014

Forceful companion eating

Science writer Brian Clegg details some large scale effects of gravity on bianary star systems:

"When binary stars are relatively close together,  the tidal forces each star can produce are considerable. Unlike planets, stars aren't solid, so often this results in plumes of stellar material being ripped from one star by the tidal forces and collected by the other as it forcefully eats its companion."

from Gravity, 2012