Celestia Forums

So here's what I'm wondering: suppose a binary star system exists where one member is more massive than the sun (say around 5 solar masses), and the otehr is much more massive than the sun (say 25 solar masses). Obviously the larger star will evolve much more quickly, becoming a red giant (or supergiant?) before going supernova. What I'd like to know is: what happens to the smaller star? Is it destroyed by the supernova? Or could the smaller one lose enough mass to become a sunlike star?

The system will remain. If the separation is small, then it will continue as a High- or Low-Mass X-ray Binary (HMXB, LMXB), which is either a black hole + MS star, or a neutron star + MS star. In either event, the secondary star will survive, but may be accreted into the compact star (turning the system into an x-ray source).

If the separation is wide, than the two should continue to orbit about each other even after the more massive star goes supernova. I don't think that the secondary star would be that much affected other than that its spectra will be contaminated with grote from the innards of the post-supernova star.

Yeah, that's more or less what I expected. I just wasn't sure how much mass the supernova would blow off the smaller companion. Thanks!