Life on planet Earth is certainly a unique phenomenon. However, it is difficult to assume that nowhere else in the Universe, the visible part of which contains billions of stars, there were no conditions for the nucleation and development of various forms of living matter. Discovering life beyond planet Earth is the golden dream of any astronomer. In addition, due to vulnerability to many cosmic threats, humanity will sooner or later have to look for other houses in the Universe.
It is not surprising that the stars closest to the Sun are so thoroughly studied, one of which is Wolf 359.
Where is the star located
The brightness of the stars are classified as follows: the brightest - luminaries of 1 magnitude, 2 magnitude slightly dimmer, etc. Asterisks of 6 magnitude - the last visible to the naked eye. 7, 8 and onwards, the values are available only to observers armed with optical instruments. Wolf 359 - a star of 13.5 magnitude, so you can’t just admire it. And it is in the constellation Leo. For those who have the opportunity to use astronomical instruments for observing stars, its coordinates:
- right ascension 10 hours 56 minutes 29.2 seconds;
- declination +7 degrees 0 minutes 53 seconds.
Wolf 359 - one of the stars closest to our luminary, is located at a distance of only about 8 light years from it (the distance that a ray of light travels in a vacuum in 365 Earth days, or about 9,460,800,000,000 km).
Space invisibility
One type of star is red dwarfs. The Wolf 359 also belongs to this class. What are these luminaries and what are interesting?
Looking at the night sky with the naked eye, we will not see a single star - a representative of this family. Meanwhile, the luminaries of this particular type are most in space. There are many more than those stars that we can see. The thing is their small size and very low luminosity.
Red dwarfs are luminaries that have been "cheated" by source material. Their mass is in the range from 7 to 30% of the solar. Interestingly, due to their small size, they are real space centenarians. The pressure and temperatures created in the nuclei of such stars are sufficient only for a sluggish thermonuclear reaction of heavy hydrogen isotopes. Thanks to this, the Wolf 359 uses its nuclear fuel extremely slowly. The life of the red dwarfs, according to some estimates, can reach a trillion years, and this is tens of thousands of times longer than the century given to the bright giants.
Red dwarf planets - perfect place to live
What are interesting to scientists red dwarfs, like Wolf 359? On the planets revolving around them, it is assumed that ideal conditions are created for the emergence and development of life. In order for a highly organized life to develop from a randomly formed fissile molecule, time is needed. Fixing successful genetic mutations, multi-stage natural selection require millions and millions of years.
This is hardly possible on satellite planets, for example, blue giants. In the hot bowels of monster stars with huge masses, pressure and temperature create the conditions for the rapid burning of all available stocks of thermonuclear fuel. The life of cosmic colossi is fleeting, and changeable, states succeed each other one after another. Here the luminary swells like a balloon, increasing in size hundreds of thousands of times, absorbing in the incinerating waves of the raging plasma recently recently revolving peacefully around the planet with their satellites. And then the rays of a miniature white dwarf (everything that remains of the giant over time) barely reach the icy planets without heat and light on the outskirts of this dying system.
Another thing is planets in red dwarf systems: millions and billions of years of stable, unchanging conditions.
Small and completely lonely
Our star is interesting for its loneliness. Red dwarfs are almost never found in space without an “escort”. Double, triple (such as, for example, the Alpha Centauri system) families are the norm for red dwarfs, but not for the star Wolf 359. Its surroundings, or rather, its complete absence, came as a surprise to astronomers.
Part of the reason for this atypical loneliness may be its more than modest size.
The diameter of Wolf 359 is about 15% of the sun, only about 200 thousand kilometers, while the mass is a little more than 10% of the mass of our luminary. With such a modest size, the presence of large satellites would certainly have manifested itself. And if the planets are still there, then, apparently, not heavier than the earthly moon.
Another feature of the Wolf 359 star is its periodicity. In a few minutes, it can become almost twice as bright. Increased activity is observed for several seconds, sometimes minutes, and then begins to fade. However, this is rather not a feature, but a rule for red dwarfs, and, as some astrophysicists believe, the presence of powerful (not in size) magnetic fields in this type of star is to blame.