Astronomers find sun's 'long-lost sibling,' pave way for family reunion

I searched & saw topics talking about the possibility of finding 'siblings' to our star & this article just came out on Science Daily.

Astronomers find sun's long lost sibling

A team of researchers led by University of Texas at Austin astronomer Ivan Ramirez has identified the first "sibling" of the Sun -- a star that was almost certainly born from the same cloud of gas and dust as our star. Ramirez' methods will help other astronomers find other "solar siblings," work that could lead to an understanding of how and where our Sun formed, and how our solar system became hospitable for life. The work will be published in the June 1 issue of The Astrophysical Journal.

Additionally, there is a chance, "small, but not zero," Ramirez said, that these solar sibling stars could host planets that harbor life. In their earliest days within their birth cluster, he explains, collisions could have knocked chunks off of planets, and these fragments could have travelled between solar systems, and perhaps even may have been responsible for bringing primitive life to Earth. Or, fragments from Earth could have transported life to planets orbiting solar siblings. "So it could be argued that solar siblings are key candidates in the search for extraterrestrial life," Ramirez said.

The solar sibling his team identified is a star called HD 162826, a star 15 percent more massive than the Sun, located 110 light-years away in the constellation Hercules. The star is not visible to the unaided eye, but easily can be seen with low-power binoculars, not far from the bright star Vega.

I love space & this is a pretty cool find. I wonder if there is life on one of the planets orbiting the sun?

The Universe Revolves around the number 9. Our sun revolves around a bigger sun and that sun revolves around another all the way until the center of the Galaxy.

ahhh .. by the title, i thought you meant, they had claimed to have found supporting evidence of the suns binary twin ....
I should have known it was more likely the case i just hadn't woke up properly yet ...
Should drink my whole cup of coffee before reading these thread titles

a reply to: Segenam

I have to admit I too was deceived. My thoughts ran towards the binary star system theory.

Even more exciting is that there are about 30 candidate stars which may be our Sun's siblings. The techniques used to verify this one can possibly be applied to some if not all of them.

originally posted by: JadeStar
Even more exciting is that there are about 30 candidate stars which may be our Sun's siblings. The techniques used to verify this one can possibly be applied to some if not all of them.

in HS science.... I learned that it was thought our Sun & solar system was borne from the debris of a 2nd generation Super Nova...
I think that only a 2nd Generation Star that went super-nova would contain all the heavy elements necessary to eventually have a solar system which had rocky planets which could have a 'goldilocks zone' in which Life as we know it could evolve...

Now that super nova cloud of long ago, may have produced at least one solar system similar to this one but Its highly unlikely that 30 more were independently condensed from that supernova cloud

#1 because the Genesis 'cloud' of elements was not perfectly blended or universally dense enough of the same essential materials to mass produce other Earth friendly solar systems with 'M' Star as the Anchor Store of a solar system Mall

so there's a small chance (small but not zero) that the siblings may have solar systems with conditions that support lofe? but then it goes on to say that these siblings may be the best place to look for life? Weird.

Here's a color image of the star which I created using Palomar sky survey plates:

a reply to: knoledgeispower

FInally! I was kinda wondering where it was. Well they found one, I can't wait to see if there's more.

S&F!

a reply to: ngchunter

It's not in the G spectral type?

originally posted by: swanne
a reply to: ngchunter

It's not in the G spectral type?

No, it's an F type star.
simbad.u-strasbg.fr...

a reply to: ngchunter

Thanks mate!