Dragon Star Is Sun's Twin
By Mark Steer
In a heart-warming tale, astronomers have announced that they’ve finally located the Sun’s twin located in the dragon constellation, Draco. The two stars are so similar that researchers believe that the star HIP 56948 is a prime candidate in the search for extra-terrestrial life.Now in middle age, our 4.6 billion year old Sun has long been thought to have a twin star somewhere out in the Milky Way, but until now the most similar stars could only really be classed as cousins. On three previous occasions researchers have thought that they’d found twins, but on each occasion spectral analysis – the stellar version of DNA fingerprinting – has shown that these other stars contain a lot more lithium than our own big twinkler meaning that, whilst similar, they couldn’t be thought of as being very closely related. HIP 56948 on the other hand bears all the chemical hallmarks of the Sun, including the low lithium levels.
There is, however, one slight problem with calling it a twin. The astronomers from Australian National University and the University of Texas at Austin who carried out the research estimate that the Sun’s closest relative is a billion years older – give or take a billion years. So HIP 56948 isn’t so much a twin as a big brother, keeping an eye on its younger sibling from 200 million light years away. Being as the star shows such similarities to the Sun, Jorge Melendez and Ivan Ramirez, who carried out the study, have suggested that it should be a primary focus for the SETI project, which searches for extra-terrestrial life-forms.
If you want to try and get a glimpse of HIP 56948 you’ll have to get your hands on a telescope or a really dark night. Once you’ve done that find the Plough (also called Ursa major or the big dipper), follow the line of the rim until you find one of the main stars in Draco, which is about a third of the way towards the pole star. HIP 56948 is just to the left if the Plough is the upright. (this diagram might make more sense)
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Follow the links for more spaced out science:
- Weird - What is dark matter?
- Interesting - A short guide to black holes
- Want an exciting holiday? - Destination: Jovian Moons
- Wanton silliness - Astronomers discover galactic sandwich
Image: Rute Lima
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