This was an important discovery, because it was the first time observational evidence clearly showed two objects in orbit around each other outside of the influence of our own Sun and Solar System. It is also possible to detect binary stars using a spectroscope. If two stars are orbiting each other they will both produce a spectrum. If the stars are close to being the same brightness it is possible to see different spectral lines from both stars. These stars are of particular interest because it can be used to determine the radial velocity of the orbit of the two stars.
Stars appear red shifted when receding away from the earth and blue shifted as they approach.
This effect is caused by the Doppler effect which distorts arriving light waves from the stars depending on the direction if their motion. A Spectroscopic binary will alternate between blue and red shifted spectral lines. Spectroscopic binaries are not detectable if we are seeing the star head on because no Doppler shifts would be present in the spectrum. If the Doppler shifts are present in a single line of the spectrum, we are seeing the light from only one star and we call this a single-line spectroscopic binary . If we can see the light from both stars the Doppler shifts will alternate, split and merge depending on the positions of the two stars in their orbits.