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The Question
(Submitted April 02, 1998)
What percentage of the stars are binary systems?
The Answer
Somebody once said that "2 out of every 3 stars are in a binary".
Seriously, the fraction is very high, but it's difficult to
be precise, because it's difficult to prove that a certain star is
definitely single. Of the stars nearest to the Sun, about half are
known to be in multiple systems.
Koji Mukai
for Ask a High-Energy Astronomer
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