Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 17 March 2000:
Vol. 287. no. 5460, pp. 1910 - 1912
DOI: 10.1126/science.287.5460.1910b
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

News Focus

MATHEMATICS:
Triple Star Systems May Do Crazy Eights

Dana Mackenzie

Mathematicians have proved that three stars can chase each other forever in a figure-eight pattern, with each one passing between the other two in turn--and that this orbit is stable. Moreover, they unexpectedly found that the three stars do not have to have equal masses, as they had assumed, meaning that the configuration could conceivably be observed in the universe.

Read the Full Text

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)