There’s a new study in which astronomers found the first detection of X-rays from a star that quite similar to the Sun, and it seems that it is in the earliest phase of its evolution. This discovery will help scientists explore the beginning of our solar system, and to understand the history better.
Back in 2017, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory found an X-ray flare that was coming from a young star called HOPS 383. This is the exact same type of star as our Sun is. The star is also known as a protostar, because it’s in its earliest phase of the evolution of the star, and it can be found at 1,400 light-years away from Earth. After it has matured, it will have about half of the mass of our Sun.
How is this going to help us
In this new study, astronomers who were studying the X-ray flare, that lasted for about 3 hours and 20 minutes, found a lot of details which are bound to change our understanding of stars that are similar to our Sun – stars that started to emit high-energy radiation into space.
According to Nicolas Grosso, the lead author of the study, “we don’t have a time machine that lets us directly observe our Sun as it was beginning its life, but the next best thing is to look at analogs of it like HOPS 383. From there, we can reconstruct important parts of our own solar system’s past.”
Astronomers are aware that young stars are more likely to emit X-rays than older star, but it is now clear when stars begin to emit X-rays. This means that the new finding will reset the timeline from when scientists believe that the sun-like stars started blasting X-rays into space.
