Sun’s “Twin” Star Sheds Light on Its Early Days When Life Was Evolving in Earth

Twin star of Sun tells about sun’s younger days… learn more…

Friday, 6th August 2021

A nearby solar twin discovered by NASA scientists may have the potential to shed light on our very own Sun and say more about how it came into being.

The new and younger star that is no more than 30 light-years away can reveal much about the beginnings of the Sun and its development over billions of years.

The research that has been published in The Astrophysical Journal explains that studying the new star unravels mysteries surrounding the impact of coronal emissions, stellar winds, and atmospheric erosion of early Venus, Earth, Mars, and young Earth-like exoplanets.

The study of stars that are proximate to us in the solar system can give deep insights into how early life began on Earth.

Also Read: Lucy Mission to Find Answers to the Origins of the Solar System Through Jupiter’s Trojan Asteroids.

This particular star termed Kappa 1 Ceti by astronomers, is approximately 600 to 750 million years old, about the age of the Sun when there was the beginning of life on Earth. NASA states, the proximity of the star gives it a neighborly status as well as makes it the Sun’s “twin” given their similarity in mass and surface temperature. It thus becomes an important object of study.

Although they are yet unable to measure the exact characteristics of the star, scientists have recreated a model to predict some of Kappa 1 Ceti’s most important features, taking input from the Hubble Space Telescope, Nasa’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and NICER missions, and ESA’s XMM-Newton.

The Sun which is 4.65 billion years old has evolved over the years. Scientists believe in its early years, the Sun rotated thrice as fast with a stronger magnetic field and emitted more intense high-energy radiation and particles.

Vladimir Airapetian, a senior astrophysicist in the Heliophysics Division at Nasa said, “Four billion years ago, considering the impact of our Sun’s wind at that time, these tremendous lights were likely often visible from many more places around the globe.”

Researchers suggest that intense activity in the Sun’s nascent years may have been responsible for pushing back Earth’s magnetosphere leaving it with the right atmospheric chemistry to sustain biological evolution.

The News Talkie Bureau

Source:

Indiatoday