Surprising dissimilarities in a newly formed pair of 'identical twin' stars

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dc.creatorStassun, Keivan G.
dc.creatorMathieu, Robert D.
dc.creatorCargile, Phillip A.
dc.creatorAarnio, Alicia N.
dc.creatorStempels, Eric
dc.creatorGeller, Aaron
dc.date2008-06-18
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T09:45:32Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T09:45:32Z
dc.descriptionThe mass and chemical composition of a star are the primary determinants of its basic physical properties--radius, temperature, luminosity--and how those properties evolve with time. Thus, two stars born at the same time, from the same natal material, and with the same mass are 'identical twins,' and as such might be expected to possess identical physical attributes. We have discovered in the Orion Nebula a pair of stellar twins in a newborn binary star system. Each star in the binary has a mass of 0.41 +/- 0.01 solar masses, identical to within 2 percent. Here we report that these twin stars have surface temperatures that differ by ~300K (~10%), and luminosities that differ by ~50%, both at high confidence level. Preliminary results indicate that the stars' radii also differ, by 5-10%. These surprising dissimilarities suggest that one of the twins may have been delayed by several hundred thousand years in its formation relative to its sibling. Such a delay could only have been detected in a very young, definitively equal-mass binary system3 such as that reported here. Our findings reveal cosmic limits on the age synchronisation of young binary stars, often used as tests for the age calibrations of star-formation models.
dc.descriptionPublished in Nature, 19 June 2008
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/0806.3089
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/0806.3089
dc.identifierdoi:10.1038/nature07069
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/163226
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.titleSurprising dissimilarities in a newly formed pair of 'identical twin' stars
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