Identical Twin Binary Stars

IdenticalBinaryStars.png

IdenticalBinaryStars.png

Hawkins found that the chemical 'DNA,' or spectra, of twin stars born together are identical, as shown here. Hawkins captured these spectra of two stars in a binary pair using the Harlan J. Smith Telescope at McDonald Observatory. (The background image is an artists' concept of a binary star.) Credit: K. Hawkins/UT Austin (data) and NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (background)