Binary systems of stars are as common as single stars. They are of fundamental importance because they allow stellar masses, radii and luminosities to be measured directly, and explain a host of diverse and energetic phenomena including X-ray binaries, cataclysmic variables, novae, symbiotic stars, and some types of supernovae. This 2001 book was the first to provide a pedagogical and comprehensive introduction to binary stars. It combines theory and observations at all wavelengths to develop a unified understanding of binaries of all categories. It comprehensively reviews methods for calculating orbits, the Roche model, ideas about mass exchange and loss, methods for analysing light curves, the masses and dimensions of different binary systems, and imaging the surfaces of stars and accretion structures. This book provides a thorough introduction to the subject for advanced undergraduate and graduate students. Researchers will also find this to be an authoritative reference.

‘Combining the experience of many years of teaching with an equal length of service in observational research on binary stars, Ron Hilditch has produced a book that will be a standard reference for advanced undergraduates, postgraduates, and more mature researchers for a long time to come … I found this book inspirational.’

David Stickland Source: The Observatory

‘It covers all the essentials a postgraduate student or undergraduate project student will need to know if they will be working with and interpreting observations of close binary stars and is full of useful sources of further information … I would recommend this book to any astronomer who studies close binary stars or wants a better understanding of them.’

Source: Astronomy Now

‘This textbook provides advanced undergraduate and graduate students a thorough introduction to binary stars as well as a lucid companion for courses on stellar astrophysics, stellar structure and evolution, and observational astrophysics.’

Source: Europe & Astronomy

‘This is a comprehensive companion book for courses on stellar astrophysics, and stellar structures and evolution.’

Source: Aslib Book Guide