Our Sun is estimated to be about 4.6 billion years old. That estimate was formed via models of Sun-like stars, plus observations of comparable stars.
However, scientists also know that the Sun became hotter as time passed, and estimates suggest that it will turn into a red giant start before evolving into a white dwarf in approximately five billion years.
Still, there is so much that we don’t know about the Sun’s history and how it impacted the evolution of life on Earth.
A method often used by scientists for making speculations regarding the Sun’s evolution is analyzing a comparable star.
One such star is HIP 102152, a solar doppelgänger that is roughly 4 billion years older than our Sun.
A team of researchers analyzed a young solar doppelgänger, which is officially known as kappa-1 Ceti.
The star has been analyzed since the middle of the 20th century.
It is extremely comparable to the Sun in terms of mass and partial chemical composition, but it is only 600 million years old.
The team used the observational data of kappa-1 Ceti in combination with evolutionary solar models to form theories regarding the evolution of our Sun.
They speculated that the Sun probably rotated roughly three times quicker than it does now, had a more prominent magnetic field and used to emit flares more frequently, along with high-energy particles.
The study is in its incipient phase, so there is more information that can be pulled out from the comparison of the two starts.
One curious aspect is that life on Earth began when the Sun was about 600 million years. Understanding more about the star’s characteristics at that age could provide more insight into the evolution of life on Earth.
As Earth’s magnetic field was weaker, the intense solar flares and coronal mass ejections from a younger Sun possibly contributed to the formation of complex molecules, which ultimately led to the apparition of life.
