The<i>q</i>= 1 peak in the mass-ratios for Hipparcos visual binaries

Abstract

Aims.The magnitude differences for Hipparcos visual binaries give important information about the upper part of their mass-ratio distribution, and in previous studies, the author found a narrow peak at This excess of equal-mass, wide pairs has not been confirmed in other studies, and the present work aims to strengthen the Hipparcos results.