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Lecture 35: The Solar Neighborhood
What stars are near the Sun? Now that we have some idea of what we are
looking for - rocky planets in the habitable zones of low-mass
main-sequence stars - what are the prospects near the Sun? This lecture
examines the hunting ground for planets, the nearby stars that make up
the Solar Neighborhood. I will describe our nearest neighbor, the
Proxima Centauri/Alpha Centauri triple system, and then look at the
properties of our nearest stellar neighbors. What we will find is that
G-type stars like the Sun are uncommon, only about 7% of all nearby
main-sequence stars. Red dwarfs, on the other hand, are very common,
about 75%. To find Sun-like main sequence stars, we will have to extend
our search to larger distances into our Milky Way galaxy proper.
Recorded live on 2009 Nov 16 in Room 1005 Smith Laboratory on the
Columbus campus of The Ohio State University.
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By Richard Pogge
4.7
186186 ratings
What stars are near the Sun? Now that we have some idea of what we are
looking for - rocky planets in the habitable zones of low-mass
main-sequence stars - what are the prospects near the Sun? This lecture
examines the hunting ground for planets, the nearby stars that make up
the Solar Neighborhood. I will describe our nearest neighbor, the
Proxima Centauri/Alpha Centauri triple system, and then look at the
properties of our nearest stellar neighbors. What we will find is that
G-type stars like the Sun are uncommon, only about 7% of all nearby
main-sequence stars. Red dwarfs, on the other hand, are very common,
about 75%. To find Sun-like main sequence stars, we will have to extend
our search to larger distances into our Milky Way galaxy proper.
Recorded live on 2009 Nov 16 in Room 1005 Smith Laboratory on the
Columbus campus of The Ohio State University.
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