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Ephemeris: 09/09/2024 – The Sun’s sibling star?

September 9, 2024 Comments off

This is Ephemeris for Monday, September 9th. Today the Sun will be up for 12 hours and 48 minutes, setting at 8:03, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:16. The Moon, 2 days before first quarter, will set at 10:38 this evening.

The Sun was born from a cloud, a nebula, of mostly hydrogen and helium with traces of heavier elements. Astronomers consider any element heaver than helium a metal. It was not born alone, but with many other stars in a star cluster, all at about the same time. The elements that are in the Sun’s atmosphere came from that nebula. Astronomers are wondering if there were any other stars they could see which were siblings of the Sun. Apparently they found one star that has the same metals in the same proportions as the Sun. That star is HD 162826, a dim star in the constellation Hercules, visible in binoculars. It’s a bit more massive than the Sun, and about 109 light years away. The Sun’s sibling stars have scattered far and wide.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

Zooming in to the Sun's possible sibling star HD 87382 in Hercules
Zooming in to the Sun’s possible sibling star HD 162826 in Hercules. Getting closer, it’s part of a three star arc easily visible in binoculars, and is the dimmest at 6.5 magnitude. The brightest, at one end, is fifth magnitude the center star is 6, and our possible sibling star is at the end. Note that the dimmer the star the higher the magnitude. It may not make sense but it’s just like golf scores the lower the number of strokes the better the score. In astronomy the lower the magnitude the brighter the star, even into negative numbers, and vice versa. Created using Stellarium, and GIMP.
Categories: Binoculars, Ephemeris Program, Observing, Stars, The Sun Tags: ,