A relatively recent hypothesis proposed the possibility that each star would originate as a binary pair or a system of multiple pairs . This is a study conducted by researchers at UC Berkeley and the Harvard-Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory who concluded that all Sun-like stars are probably born with a partner. While this is an unconfirmed theory , there is significant evidence that our Sun likely has a twin, an evil twin that orbits at a great distance from us. This is what is known as the Nemesis star theory.
The researchers designed a mathematical model that finds that observations of the stars in Perseus can only be explained if all the stars were born with a partner.
“We ran a series of statistical models to see if we could account for the relative populations of individual young and binary stars from all separations in the Perso molecular cloud, and the only model that could reproduce the data was one in which all the stars are initially formed as broad binaries , “said Steven Stahler in the study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Nemesis would be the red dwarf stellar companion of the Sun (most of the stars in the galaxy are red dwarfs, that is, they represent only a fifth of the size of our Sun and are up to 50 times fainter) but, precisely because of their Minor size and dim-witted, they can be hard to find, making Nemesis even more elusive. It could also be a brown dwarf.
A second sun in our solar system?
Under the name of the Greek goddess of revenge, Nemesis and the defenders of this theory, state that every 26 million years the Earth would suffer a cataclysmic extinction event. It happened with dinosaurs about 65 million years ago, causing a mass extinction, destroying a large percentage of life on the planet and altering the balance of nature.
Thus, every 26 million years, the orbit of Nemesis would take it through the Oort cloud, a mass of comets and debris in the far reaches of space, interrupting the course of comets taking into account that their orbit occasionally passes through from the famous Oort Cloud (made up of planetesimals, comets and asteroids), sending them hurtling toward the inner planets in a shower of destruction that can last for decades. Even though he is the little brother of the Sun, he would possess enough strength to wreak havoc from so far away. Not surprisingly, we have already raised that the theory states that this star would be responsible for 12 cyclical extinction events on Earth, including the one that killed the dinosaurs.
What real chances are there that Nemesis exists?
Even with our advanced technology and our powerful telescopes, Nemesis has not yet been detected and, although we imagine that it could be easy to detect another sun in our own solar system, the truth is that it is a “dark object ”Distributed among millions of other celestial bodies. It is not an easy thing to track.
Maybe with infrared technology we have a chance. If there is a Nemesis. At the moment, the theory states that this other sun must be in a large orbit of 1.5 light years, retaining enough gravitational force between it and the Sun not to deviate.
Of course, in opposition to the relatively small number of astronomers and astrophysicists who take Nemesis’s explanation as valid, many try to discredit it. We can only be certain, for now, that our Sun is alone.
Referencia: Embedded binaries and their dense cores
Sarah I. Sadavoy, Steven W. Stahler
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 469, Issue 4, August 2017, Pages 3881–3900, https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx1061
