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According to scientists, the sun appears to be less active than other similar stars in terms of brightness variations caused by sunspots and other phenomena, which may not be a bad thing for us.
The researchers said Thursday (30) that an evaluation of 369 sun-like stars at surface temperatures, size, and rotation period (the sun takes 24 and a half days to rotate around its own axis) showed that the other stars on average they had five times more brightness variations than the sun.
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“This variation is caused by dark spots on the surface of the star that rotate in and out,” said astronomer Timo Reinhold of the Max Plack Institute for Solar System Research in Germany, lead author of the study published in the academic journal . Science. “A direct measure of solar activity is the amount of sunspots on its surface.”
The sun, a hot sphere made of hydrogen and helium, is a medium-sized star formed more than 4.5 billion years ago and is about halfway through its life. Its diameter is 1.4 million km. Its surface temperature is about 5,500 degrees Celsius.
“The temperature and the period of rotation are considered the main ingredients for the dynamo within the star, which generates its magnetic field and, finally, the number and size of the points that cause variations in brightness. Finding such stars with very parameters similar to ours but being five times more variable was surprising, “Reinhold said.
High magnetic activities associated with sunspots can cause solar flares, gigantic coronal ejections (large ejections of plasma and the magnetic field from the outermost part of the solar atmosphere), and other electromagnetic phenomena that can affect Earth, disrupting the satellites and communications. and putting astronauts in danger.
Copyright © Thomson Reuters.
