Solar Twin

Basic Information

A Solar Twin is a star that has significant major similarities to our Sun, even more so than a mere solar analog.

To qualify as a solar twin, a star must:

• Be a Main Sequence Dwarf Star
• Have a spectral classification very similar to our Sun's - G2V
• Have a surface temperature within 50 K of our Sun's - so roughly 5,720 K to 5, 830 K
• Be composed of 89—112% as much non-hydrogen, non-helium content as our sun. This would mean it's system had almost exactly the same amount of dust for planetary formation as our Solar System had.
• Have been in existence for no more than 1 billion years more or less than our sun (so anywhere in the range of 3.5 to 5.6 billion years would suffice)

Likely Solar Twins

The following stars are (or are suspected to be) Solar Twins:

• Beta Canum Venaticorum - 27.4 light years away from Earth
• 18 Scorpii - 45.7 light years away from Earth
• 37 Geminorum - 56.3 light years away from Earth
• HD 44594
• HD 195034
• HD 98618 - 126 light years away from Earth
• HD 143436
• HD 133600
• HD 101364 - 200 light years away from Earth

See Also:

• Solar Analog
• Solar-Type
• G V Star
• Yellow Dwarf

Sources

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia

Game and Story Use

• All those parallel worlds in sci-fi - they've got to be orbiting Solar Twins. You know, those worlds that look eerily like Earth, or that have a species that looks exactly like humans, and evolved creepily to be just like us except for one cultural difference. See Alternate History and Planet of Hats for more ideas.