History
This star system was first cataloged by William Herschel in the late 18th century in his study of binary stars. Herschel proved that this system as a gravitationally bound binary system where the two stars orbited around a common center of mass. This was an important contribution to the proof that Newton's law of universal gravitation applied to objects beyond the solar system. He commented at the time that there was a possible third unseen companion affecting the orbit of the two visible stars.
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—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“Tell me of the height of the mountains of the moon, or of the diameter of space, and I may believe you, but of the secret history of the Almighty, and I shall pronounce thee mad.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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