Astronomers show that our sun is lazy and boring compared to other stars

Without the sun’s heat, Earth would be a rock covered in ice. Does a lot for us. But compared to other stars of its size, it turns out that our sun, the literal light of our lives, is a bit boring. We appreciate it, but it could be doing more, you know?

A new study, published in the journal Science on Thursday by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS), reveals that our sun is about five times weaker than other sun-like stars in the universe.

The report chose these sun-like stars based on similarities such as surface temperature, rotation period, age, and the proportion of elements higher than hydrogen and helium, to provide a decisive comparison. What was most relevant was the rotation period.

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“The speed at which a star rotates around its own axis is a crucial variable,” said Professor Sami Solanki, director of MPS and co-author of the new publication, in a statement.

The rotation of a star influences the creation and state of its magnetic field, which in turn determines how often the sun emits energy radiation, how often particles erupt in space, and how brightly the sun shines.

Of the 369 stars that meet the criteria, the fluctuation between the phases of active and inactive solar irradiance was evidence to support the theory that our sun is a lazy beat. On average, the fluctuation of our sun was only 0.07%, while other sun-like stars measured up to five times as much. When you look at it that way, our sun seems positively lazy.

“We were very surprised that most sun-like stars are much more active than the Sun,” said Dr. Alexander Shapiro, who heads the research group “Connecting Solar and Stellar Variables” at MPS.

Admittedly, this does not count the results of up to 2,500 other sun-like stars that could not be accurately measured by NASA’s Kepler telescope, results that could indicate that our sun is not the only dead heartbeat among the stars.

But that in turn could be evidence that, as a gliding rather than applying college student, our sun might have the ability to exert more brightness and power. It is simply in a weaker phase today.

“It is equally conceivable that stars with known rotation periods similar to the sun show us the fundamental fluctuations in activity that the sun is capable of,” Shapiro said.