Quote:
Originally Posted by erick
That's interesting re Sirius. I guess the mass change would be picked up through changes in orbital period? Or is that a centre-of-mass thing and won't be affected? Perhaps then, relative magnitudes?
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If Sirius B was gaining mass at the expense of Sirius A, the centre of mass would be moving towards Sirius B and hence the orbital period of Sirius B would decrease. All of this however is very long term.
I imagine if mass is spiraling into Sirius B, then Sirius B should be an irregular variable.
Steven