Astronomers Discover Sun’s Long-Lost Sibling

For a long time, astronomers have been suspecting that there could be another companion of the sun and the new study conducted recently has found that there could be another star closely similar to the sun. Scientists have carried out several researches to confirm the findings done earlier on whether there could be another form of sun in the universe.

Richard Muller, a scientist at the University of California Berkeley, claimed in 1984 that there is a red dwarf star which was about 1.5 light-years away that looks similar to the sun and it’s the cause of mass extinctions that had been speculated by other scientists. The star was named, Nemesis.

The new study has reported that nearly all the stars that look like the sun have their own companions which prove the earlier theory of Nemesis. The new findings however don’t regard Nemesis as a threat to the Earth. Nemesis is now considered the sibling star that might have split off the sun and dissolved away into other substance in the Milky Way hundred billions of years ago.

Another ‘solar twin’ was ascertained in 2007 when two astronomers Jorge Melendez from Australian National University and Ivan Ramirez from the University of Texas discovered that there is a mid-sized star that could be older than the sun which was by then, 4.6 billion years old.

There are other three stars that were also discovered to be the relatives of the sun. While they have common features similar to the sun, it was later unveiled that they have lithium that is extremely higher than the content found in the sun. According to the scientists, the research on the universe especially the studies on the solar stars are very critical since the sun is used as a benchmark for many other studies.

The findings from the new study should help scientists to study the chemical content of the solar stars and other theoretical models surrounding the sun’s evolution and with actual observations. Most of the solar stars that are discovered are usually newborn binary stars and they end up splitting and going separate ways.

About the author

Meenakshi Rawat

Having worked on Entertainment, Technology, and Business for four years, Meenakshi finds solace in technology, and more so in covering it. She loves to read novels, listen to music, and roam around places. You can reach Meenakshi at meenakshi@pc-tablet.com.