"We have been studying our Sun's astrosphere for decades, but we can't see it from the outside. This new Chandra result about a similar star's astrosphere teaches us about the shape of the Sun's, and how it has changed over billions of years as the Sun evolves and moves through the galaxy."
"Called HD 61005, this star has about the same mass and temperature of the sun but is just 100 million years old—our home star is about five billion years old. Because HD 61005 is still in its infancy, it produces a strong solar wind, boosting its bubble. Currently, the star's astrosphere has a diameter that's equivalent to around 200 times the distance between Earth and the sun."
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has observed HD 61005, a young sunlike star approximately 120 light-years away, producing its astrosphere—a protective bubble created by stellar winds. This star, roughly 100 million years old with similar mass and temperature to our sun, generates a stronger solar wind than the mature sun due to its youth. The astrosphere currently spans approximately 200 times the Earth-Sun distance. Surrounded by dense dust from its formation, HD 61005 produces X-rays when its stellar wind collides with the cooler interstellar medium. This observation provides insights into how the sun's astrosphere may have appeared during its infancy and how it has evolved over billions of years as the sun ages and travels through the galaxy.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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