Star system

:This article is about astronomy. For the Hollywood star system, see star system (film).

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A star system or stellar system is a group of stars (and possibly smaller bodies such as planets or asteroids) that orbit one another (systems with planetary bodies orbiting stars, are referred to as solar systems or planetary systems). Although this is similar to the definition of a star cluster, the term is generally used to describe a group of a small number of stars, often two or three, emphasizing the gravitational influence they have upon one another. A star system has a definitive barycenter which the stars in the system orbit about, and well defined orbital behaviour that has some semblance of positional prediction over multiple orbits, unlike the quasi-orbits of stars in a cluster.

Related Topics:
Stars - Planet - Asteroid - Orbit - Planetary system - Star cluster

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