Astronomer investigates binary star systems to further our understanding of the universe

Warwick Astronomer investigates binary star systems to further our understanding of the universe. An astronomer from the University of Warwick is to investigate an intriguing type of star system to help drive our understanding of the expanding universe. Dr Ingrid Pelisoli, has received a £1.2 million grant from the Royal Society to pursue her research, which will be analysing binary star systems. These are two stars sharing an orbit, too close to each other for the human eye to separate them. She will particularly focus on white dwarf binaries, which have enabled astronomers to measure the expansion of the universe. Dr Pelisoli, who is working with collaborators at the University of Sheffield on the project, said: "When you look up to the night sky, a large fraction of the stars that you see are actually binary systems. This includes Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, a pair containing a main sequence star, like our Sun, and a white dwarf, a fossil of stellar evolution. These binary systems containing a white dwarf are the main subject of my research." - To complete her research, Dr Pelisoli is joining the BlackGEM Consortium, which hosts three state-of-the-art telescopes in Chile, operated by a consortium of universities, looking deep into space across a large area of the night sky. BlackGEM - which is led by NOVA (Netherlands Research School for Astronomy), Radboud University and KU Leuven - is building a multicoloured movie of the Southern skies to search for variable stars and transient events. Why are binary systems so important?