One of our Sun’s sister stars has finally been found

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Pigeon
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One of our Sun’s sister stars has finally been found

Post by Pigeon » Sun May 11, 2014 7:38 pm


One of our Sun’s long-lost sister stars has finally been found, and she’s pretty close by

Astronomers at the University of Texas at Austin have done something rather remarkable: They’ve identified a nearby star that was birthed from the same cluster as our own Sun. If that wasn’t cool enough, the lead author also says that — because the Sun and this sibling star were once relatively close and may have bumped uglies — there is a “small, but not zero” chance that planets orbiting this star could host extraterrestrial life.

This new star, HD 162826, is about 110 light years away in the constellation Hercules. It’s about 15% larger than our Sun, but even so you’ll need some binoculars or a simple telescope to see it. 110 light years, in interstellar terms, is very close; the galactic center of the Milky Way, by comparison, is around 25,000 light years distant; Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky is around 9 light years away.

To identify HD 162826 as a sibling star, Ivan Ramirez and friends from UT Austin used high-resolution spectroscopy to analyze the elemental composition of a bunch of stars. When they found a star that matched our Sun’s chemical makeup, they then looked at its orbit, to see where the star had been, and where they’re currently heading. By combining both of these calculations, the astronomers ended up with just one star: HD 162826.

As luck would have it, the McDonald Observatory Planet Search project has actually been watching the star for the last 15 years. Their observations have ruled out any giant planets orbiting close to the star, but there could still be some smaller planets.

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Pigeon
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Re: A sibling of our Sun

Post by Pigeon » Sun May 11, 2014 7:42 pm

Image

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Royal
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Re: One of our Sun’s sister stars has finally been found

Post by Royal » Mon May 12, 2014 3:41 am

You found some cool science news I been looking for the past few days...



Bastards on that sister star probably took MH370.

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Royal
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Re: One of our Sun’s sister stars has finally been found

Post by Royal » Mon May 12, 2014 5:12 am

Here is their latest post card:


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