Binary Stars

For more than 200 years, astronomers thought that most of the stars in our galaxy were binary stars and that our sun was a unique exception. Recent discoveries however have revealed that most stars are not binary after all, although most (80%) of sun-sized stars are in pairs. Most stars in the galaxy (85%) are red dwarfs which generally form alone. Scientists also believe a few percent of stellar systems are trinary stars. Since 3-body systems are generally unstable, they only last for significant times if two of the stars are close together, with one far away (think Earth-Moon-Sun).