Thursday, March 15, 2012

Which star is as hot as the Sun?

Our Sun is not very unique (apart from the fact that its solar system has life, that is 'us'). Sun is neither the largest nor the smallest star. It is also not the hottest star. It is, in fact, an average star in its main sequence. There is not only one, but probably thousands (or millions) of stars that are very similar to our Sun. Such stars are also known as solar analogs. Among a number of criteria that solar analogs have to satisfy is the criterion about temperature. Solar analogs have a temperature within 500 K of Sun's temperature. The nearest solar analog is a star named Epsilon Eridani (at a distance of only 10.5 light years). Tau Ceti is another solar analog and is at a distance of 11.9 light years. There are numerous other stars with similar temperatures.


Scientists are actively studying such solar analogs to understand them better and also to search for possibility of life on one of their orbiting planets.


Hope this helps.  

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