The sun is a normal star after all, confirms study

With information from the Kepler (NASA), Gaia (ESA) and SOHO (NASA/ESA) satellites, a group, led by Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço (IA) researcher Ângela Santos, appears to have put an finish to the concept that the sun may not be an everyday “sun-like” star. The outcomes have been printed at present (April 6) in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Though it might sound odd to attempt to discover out if the sun is a sun-like star, Ângela Santos, a researcher at IA, explains the issue: “Locally, there may be an ongoing debate on whether or not the sun is a ‘sun-like’ star. Particularly, about its magnetic exercise, a number of research advised that stars much like the sun have been considerably extra energetic. Nevertheless, the issue does not appear to be with the sun, however with the celebs labeled as sun-like, as a result of there are a number of limitations and biases within the observational data and the inferred stellar properties,” provides Santos.

For this work, the group selected a number of stars with comparable properties to the sun. The group used a brand new stellar properties catalog, from Kepler information, plus some Gaia information and the group’s rotation period and magnetic exercise index catalog. The stellar information have been in contrast with information of exercise from the final two solar cycles, from the VIRGO/SPM instrument aboard the SOHO spacecraft.

One of many studied stars, chosen from the Kepler catalog, was lovingly named Doris by the astronomers. In a earlier work, the group had already noticed that Doris’ cycle amplitude was twice that of the sun for the most recent solar cycles, although Doris has comparable properties to the sun. Santos says, “The distinction was the metallicity. Our interpretation is that the impact of metallicity, which ends up in a deeper convection zone, produces a simpler dynamo, which ends up in a stronger exercise cycle.”

For this work, when the group chosen stars much like Doris, with out contemplating metallicity within the choice, they discovered an extra of excessive metallicity stars. “In our choice, the one parameter that would result in this extra is the rotation interval. Particularly, Doris had an extended interval than the sun. And, actually, we discovered proof of a correlation between the rotation interval and metallicity,” says Santos.

The 2 research have constant outcomes, as a result of stronger magnetic activity signifies that the magnetic braking course of results in a slower rotation period, which explains why Doris rotates slower than the sun, regardless of being very comparable and barely youthful than the sun.

Ângela Santos says, “What we discovered is that though there are stars that are extra energetic than the sun, the sun is certainly a totally regular sun-like star.”