The Binary Research Institute was formed in 2001 to support and fund research regarding the hypothesis that the Sun is part of a binary star system. It is the goal of the Binary Research Institute to present evidence for this theory, showing that the motion of the sun along a binary orbital path can result in and better explain the same precessional motion that current LuniSolar and Earth Wobble theories attempt to account for.

The Binary Research Institute is dedicated to the exploration of theories that aim to expand our understanding of celestial motion as it relates to our own Solar System, and the Earth over long periods of time.

The institute’s founder is Walter W. Cruttenden, an amatuer astronomer and archaeoastronomer who states "The solar system moves — and this in turn changes the Earth's orientation to the distant stars — a phenomanon we call precession."

Binary Research Institute (BRI); an archeoastronomy think tank focused on celestial knowledge of ancient civilizations, with an emphasis on precession mechanics. Based on this research Cruttenden has put forth the "Binary Model" to better explain the Precession of the Equinox, the little- understood, third motion of the Earth.

Cruttenden has had a life long interest in the science of archeoastronomy, mythology and esoteric teachings. Prior to founding BRI, he was in the investment banking business and one of the largest providers of IPO and private financing to science and technology companies in the under $100 million market cap range. He sold his banking interests to Fidelity and E*Trade and now devotes fulltime to BRI.
Researchers at BRI have noticed a number of problems related to the current theory of precession. While VLBI, laser ranging and other related technologies do a good job at determining the earth’s orientation, the sun’s movement through space has not been coordinated with these findings resulting in unintentional bias of precession inputs. In examining the phenomenon of precession of the equinox (which was the original impetus for the development of lunisolar precession theory) we have found that a binary orbit motion of our sun and solar system is a simpler way to reproduce the same observable without any of the problems associated with current precession theory. Indeed, elliptical orbit equations have been found to be a better predictor of precession rates than Newcomb's formula, showing about ten times greater accuracyover the last hundred years. Moreover, a binary orbit motion of our sun provides a solution to a number of solar system formation theory enigmas including angular momentum. For these reasons, BRI has concluded our sun is most likely part of a long cycle binary system.

A binary system is two stars gravitationally bound orbiting a common center of mass. The stars can be of the same or differing sizes and orbits can be as short as a few days or as long as thousands of years. The short ones are easy to detect, the long ones difficult, some probably impossible to detect because of the very long observation period required.

While there is no obvious visible companion star to our Sun, there could be a dark binary, such as a brown dwarf or possibly a relatively small black hole, either of which might be very difficult to detect, without accurate and lengthy analysis.

Beyond direct detection – one way to determine if we are in a binary system is to see if the Sun is curving through space. To us on Earth that means we should experience a gradual “changing orientation to inertial space.” Such a phenomenon is observed as the precession of the equinox.