Visual binary Visual binary A visual binary is a gravitationally bound system that can be resolved into two stars. These stars are estimated, via Kepler's 3rd law, to have periods ranging from a number of years to thousands of years. A visual binary consists of two stars, usually of a different brightness. Because of this, the brighter star is called the primary and the fainter one is called the companion. If the primary is too bright, relative to the companion, this can cause a glare making it difficult to resolve the two components. However, it is possible to resolve the system if
Combinatorial number system of a set "S" is a subset of "S" with "k" (distinct) elements. The main purpose of the combinatorial number system is to provide a representation, each by a single number, of all formula_1 possible "k"-combinations of a set "S" of "n" elements. Choosing, for any "n", } as such a set, it can be arranged that the representation of a given "k"-combination "C" is independent of the value of "n" (although "n" must of course be sufficiently large); in other words considering "C" as a subset of a larger set by increasing "n" will not change the number that