Mass Ratio

Now we will investigate how the binary mass ratio changes the light curve.

The mass ratio is simply the ratio of the binary star masses: M2/M1.

Go to the starting page of Binary Maker and choose Light Curves and change the binary inclination back to its original value: 89.32.

Go back to beginning, choose Light Curves again.

The first screen should give you an option to change the mass ratio. It is currently 0.92. Change this to 0.50. Type Enter for all other values.

Question: What happened to the binary stars as seen in the binary picture?

Run the light curve. Note how the light curve has changed.

Run through the light curves again changing the mass ratio. Be careful as Binary Maker will not accept values which are inconsistent with other binary parameters. If this should happen Binary Maker should bring up an error screen. If it crashes press Ctl-Alt-Del. This will bring up the Windows desktop and a Task List screen. Double-click on the DOS window prompt and type "menu" again at the prompt to start Binary Maker again.

Question: How does the mass ratio change the light curve?

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