Double and multiple stars are the rule in the stellar population, and single stars the minority, as the abundance of binary systems in the space surrounding the sun shows beyond doubt. Numerous stellar features, and methods of their exploration, ensue specifically from the one but widespread property, the binary nature. Stellar masses are basic quantities for the theory of stellar structure and evolution, and they are ob- tained from binary-star orbits where they depend on the cube of observed parameters; this fact illustrates the significance of orbits as well as the accuracy requirements....

Double and multiple stars are the rule in the stellar population, and single stars the minority, as the abundance of binary systems in the space surrounding the sun shows beyond doubt. Numerous stellar features, and methods of their exploration, ensue specifically from the one but widespread property, the binary nature. Stellar masses are basic quantities for the theory of stellar structure and evolution, and they are ob- tained from binary-star orbits where they depend on the cube of observed parameters; this fact illustrates the significance of orbits as well as the accuracy requirements....