Sharmila Kuthunur is a Seattle-based science journalist covering astronomy, astrophysics and space exploration. Follow her on X @skuthunur.
; Image Processing: Gladys Kober )Although we know the sun to be an unchanging, and even predictable source, of light in our skies, its youthful version some 4.6 billion years ago was quite active. During those formative years, our star spewed solar flares every week or so, despite shining only about a third as bright as it does now. Scientists also suspect that even though the early sun exhibited a dim stature, it kept the then-young Earth.
At just 10 million years old, HP Tau is the youngest of its siblings. It resides roughly 550 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus, and hasn't yet kicked off theprocess upon which it will soon come to rely on for its energy, and for its light. The star, currently blanketed by thick clouds of gas and dust in which it was birthed, is on its way to becoming a star like the one we see everyday with our own eyes, scientists say. It'll eventually look something like the sun.
HP Tau's brightness fluctuates over time, both periodically and randomly — a cosmic quirk scientists think is because of the young star's chaotic nature. The random changes to HP Tau's brightness can be attributed to surrounding material falling into the star and therefore being devoured by its thralls, as well as to flares erupting on the star's surface. The more periodic changes could be due to sunspots pockmarking the star that rotate in and out of our view, scientists say.
Because our own sun will outlive us, astronomers are interested in studying sun-like stars elsewhere in the universe that are at various stages of their life cycles, from which they can decode the past, relate to the present and draw conclusions about the future of our own sun.
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