A Stellar Sibling To Our Sun Is Found

Hey Space Placers!

My deepest appreciation to all of you who have visited my blog - you now number over 400,000 and average almost 5,000 views a day! I can't tell you how much it means to me personally to share the Universe and our space program with each you.

Astronomers have announced that they have found a stellar sibling to our own star, the Sun.  the star, HD 162826 is located close by at 110 light years in the constellation of Hercules. 15% more massive than our Sun, the star can be seen with binoculars and amateur telescopes. The "HD" stands for the Henry Draper Star Catalog which is a famous catalog of 225,300 stars that was first published from 1918-1924 and added to in later years.

University of Texas

The star was identified as being related to our Sun based upon analysis of its chemical composition and orbital motion.

There are more of the Sun's relatives to be found. I have added HD 162826 to my astrophoto list, especially since Hercules is now easily visible in the East. When I get a good pic I will share it with you.

If you have binoculars be sure to try and see this solar sibling with your own eyes - its light would have left in 1904!

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