An international research team has discovered for the first time powerful stellar winds coming from three stars similar to the Sun: X-ray emissions from their astrospheres have been recorded.
What is the astrosphere? It is also called a stellar wind bubble. These are very hot bubbles of plasma thrown by stellar winds into the interstellar medium, a space full of gas and dust. According to experts, stellar winds from stars like the Sun interest scientists because they allow them to study stellar and planetary evolution, as well as the possible future of the Solar System. Strong stellar winds have a destructive effect on planetary atmospheres.
For the first time, astronomers have directly tracked the stellar winds of three main sequence stars close to the Sun.
The observations were made using the XMM-Newton space telescope. As reported in a paper about the discovery published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the researchers looked at the spectral lines of oxygen ions and were able to determine the amount of oxygen and the total mass of the stellar wind emitted by the stars. To do this, an algorithm was used to separate the stellar and astrospheric contributions to the radiation.
For three stars (70 Ophiuchi, Epsilon Eridani and 61 Cygni), the mass loss rates are approximately 66, 15 and 9.6 times greater than the mass loss rate of the Sun. Therefore, the winds of these stars are much stronger than the solar wind. Scientists say this can be explained by the increased magnetic activity of stars.
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A solar-type star, a Sun analog star, and a Sun twin are three categories of stars that are similar to the star to varying degrees. The study of these stars is important to better understand the properties of the Sun, its uniqueness or, conversely, its typicality among other stars. And also, importantly, the possibility of the existence of habitable planets around other solar-type stars.
