The brightest star in the sky is the Sun. Yes, the Sun is just a star. Actually, it’s a rather typical star. Typical in size, typical in color, and at middle age. However, as I will describe, it isn’t the steady Eddie you might imagine. I wrote about the Sun in the June column, but there’s a lot to that big yellow ball, so I’m at it again.
If there is anything atypical about the Sun, it’s that its siblings have traveled far and wide. The Sun likely formed as a member of a group with other stars. The twin-star sunset Luke Skywalker observed on the planet Tatooine in Star Wars looks exotic, but stars orbiting each other is common. Multiple stars often form from a single large cloud of gas and dust. Depending on each star’s spin around the cloud, over time, stars are flung away. Very often a pair, or even three or four stars, fly off together, and stay together. But our Sun went solo. In 2014, astronomers at the University of Texas discovered a star believed to be a sibling of our Sun. Its chemical makeup and movement identified it as a sibling. Star HD 162826 is about 110 light-years away in the constellation Hercules. It’s a little too dim to see with unaided eyes, but it’s easy in binoculars. Other stars have been identified as potential solar siblings.
Our Sun is not perfectly stable. Since the early seventeenth century, scientists have observed periods of greater solar activity. These active periods repeat every eleven years. We are currently near one of these peaks. From 1700 to 1750, the eleven-year peaks in activity almost disappeared. This coincided with the “little ice age” in Europe. A few months ago, solar activity caused an outburst of the Northern Lights.
High solar activity can result in more than Northern Lights. The Sun can produce sudden major flares, called Coronal Mass Ejections, or CMEs. If a CME is not directed toward the Earth, it has little impact. But if the direction of a CME flare is unfortunate, the consequences can be severe. The Earth’s magnetic field provides some protection. However, in 1859, a CME wiped out telegraph service and caused fires in telegraph stations. In 1989, a CME took out power in Quebec for nine hours. In todays connected age, Lloyds of London has estimated a major CME could cause up to three trillion dollars damage.
Do you want to learn more about the Sun? I’ll be presenting some interesting facts about the Sun at the Pebble Hill Learning Center on Saturday, October 12, 2024. For additional information, please contact Kim McCray at Pebble Hill, (229)227-5396, kmccray@pebblehill.com. Tickets for the event are available at pebble-hill-plantation.ticketleap.com. Adults 18 years and older are $12 and children 9 to 17 are $6. Come join the fun.