Wide Binaries: Opportunities at the Non-Violent End of the Semi-Major Axis Distribution (Julio Chaname, Carnegie Institution of Washington)

While stars in binary systems of all types have been always recognized to be of fundamental importance in astronomy, only in recent years has the population of binaries at the wide end of the distribution of orbital separations (semi-major axis of 100 AU and larger) been properly exploited. I will review the status of research on wide binaries and highlight the potential inherent to these objects for the study of the Galaxy, including their unique usefulness as probes of inhomogeneities of the gravitational potential.