ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF ORBITAL ECCENTRICITIES FOR WIDE VISUAL BINARY STARS

We propose to determine the form of the eccentricity distribution for wide visual binaries from the distribution of the angle between the ra dius vector that connects the components and the vector of their relat ive motion. The available data indicate that the distribution of angle s for physical binaries with periods similar to 10(3)-10(4) years is u niform. We show that it corresponds to a linear distribution of eccent ricities, f(e) = 2e, which is typical of systems that are formed by th e breakup of small clusters or unstable multiple stars.