Hello, everybody! Today, I'm doing a post about something I only found out about at the end of June.. Let's get this post going!
Today, I'm talking about a star called HIP 11915. It is located about 200 light-years away, in the constellation Cetus. Its estimated temperature is only 12 °C hotter than the Sun's own estimated temperature. Its mass has been measured to be the same as the Sun's, and it even has a planet similar to Jupiter orbiting about as far as Jupiter does from our own Sun!
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| An artist's impression of 'Jupiter 2' orbiting its star! Source: Wikipedia |
The implications for this kind of star system are immense. See, 'Jupiter 2' has also been measured to (probably) be the closest gas giant to the 'Sun 2'. That means that there could possibly be an entire replica of our Solar System, right down to having life on the third-closest planet! Sure, it's unlikely... but it's still possible!
At first, the logical thought would be that it's one of our Sun's 'twins' - stars that formed in the same nebula as the Solar System and at around the same time as the Sun. But as it turns out, it... isn't! It just happens to be almost identical to the Sun in every way. And that, the fact it exists despite how improbable it is for it to exist, is what makes it so awesome to me.
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In other news, I now have an Instagram account! To be fair, I was having a tough time deciding, but then I realised that I could share all of the photos I take with everyone who reads this blog! The link is on the right-hand side of the page. I hope you enjoy looking at the photos I post!