Our Sun Special Stellar

The sun, like all stars, is a blazing ball of fusion-powered plasma. From its surface emerge magnetic field lines that cause dark patches known as sunspots. Our sun is rather tame compared with its stellar siblings, and that hundred of other sun-like stars in our galaxy have on average five times more magnetic activity than our parent star. In other words, the sun’s activity level is normal for stars of its size, which might be good for life here on earth. The data of approximately 150,000 stars in the milky way was monitored to observe brightness variations from activity. The researchers selected stars with masses, temperatures, ages, chemical compositions and rotation periods comparable to our sun’s. They found 369 stars for comparison. Stars like the sun go through regular cycles during which spots cross their surfaces with greater or less frequency. During times of peak magnetic activity, when spots pop out all over the surface, a star will dim. Our sun’s cycle lasts about 11 earth years. The sun is in a period of unusual state of decreased activity. The magnetic dynamo inside the sun, which powers its colossal magnetic field, is reaching the end of its high-powered stage, and is currently transitioning into a period of reduced activity. A quiet sun has benefited our species. When the sun flares up, its energetic emissions do harm to astronauts and satellites in orbit. Models indicate that when the sun was younger, perhaps a billion years old, it had greater magnetic activity than today.