<p>I haven't been able to find anything on this so far. Using Alpha Centauri as the study, what events/effects ( if any ) would happen between the two stars? More specifically, between the gravitational fields converging and the stellar winds, would there be anomalies that form between the two such as a nebula or cloud of charged particles that shimmer/bounce around because of the gravitational forces meeting. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-03-05T08:48:30.100Z
I feel like you might have a slight misunderstanding of the gravity at the barycenter. Far away objects are attracted to the barycenter, but in the star system you'll be pulled to the star that is closer/more massive. Objects right at the barycenter would be in an *unstable* equilibrium and therefore not "clump" there. Think of it a bit like standing on a ridge between two valleys: moving a bit in either direction would cause you to fall towards that star.
Leo Adberg
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-03-05T15:02:12.897Z
I used the barycenter as a simple term to generalize that common point between the two stars. But the effect I am more interested is how do the stellar winds interact with each other when they make contact. I imagine there would be quite a difference in the interaction from when the stars are farthest apart to when they are at their closest. The effect, in regard to gravity, is would there be anything wierd happening because of the pushing of the stellar winds and the pulling of the gravity of each star?
Markitect
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-03-05T22:36:21.973Z
different but related: [What would happen if a star passed through the barycenter of two binary stars?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/25881/7982) I think there's another "what happens in the middle" question here somewhere also, but I can't find it.
uhoh
<orbital-mechanics><gravitational-waves><binary-star><stellar-astrophysics><stellar-dynamics>
Binary star system effects at the barycenter
Markitect
# Binary star system effects at the barycenter

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-03-05)

I haven't been able to find anything on this so far. Using Alpha Centauri as the study, what events/effects ( if any ) would happen between the two stars? More specifically, between the gravitational fields converging and the stellar winds, would there be anomalies that form between the two such as a nebula or cloud of charged particles that shimmer/bounce around because of the gravitational forces meeting.

**Tags:** orbital-mechanics, gravitational-waves, binary-star, stellar-astrophysics, stellar-dynamics

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I feel like you might have a slight misunderstanding of the gravity at the barycenter. Far away objects are attracted to the barycenter, but in the star system you'll be pulled to the star that is closer/more massive. Objects right at the barycenter would be in an *unstable* equilibrium and therefore not "clump" there. Think of it a bit like standing on a ridge between two valleys: moving a bit in either direction would cause you to fall towards that star.  
> **username_0**: I used the barycenter as a simple term to generalize that common point between the two stars. But the effect I am more interested is how do the stellar winds interact with each other when they make contact. I imagine there would be quite a difference in the interaction from when the stars are farthest apart to when they are at their closest. The effect, in regard to gravity, is would there be anything wierd happening because of the pushing of the stellar winds and the pulling of the gravity of each star?  
> **username_2**: different but related: [What would happen if a star passed through the barycenter of two binary stars?](https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/q/25881/7982) I think there's another "what happens in the middle" question here somewhere also, but I can't find it.  

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## 0 answers

