The discovery has posed a major problem for astronomy because it contradicts the prevalent theories of how stars form. The theories describe a single star condensing out of a glob of interstellar gas. As the gas collapses under the force of gravity, a star is born. Those theories do not provide any good mechanism to explain the formation of double stars. But it only produces single stars.
Nature produces doubles.
Single stars might be harder to find than we thought. It is to figure out puzzles of this sort that astronomers come to Keck. But this sky-high lookout comes with a downside. At 13,800 feet, there's only half the normal supply of oxygen, and human brains don't function at full speed. If I'm working on the instrument, conversations in the background annoy me.