The star at the centre of this image is the first of the solar siblings to be discovered. It is considered to be one of the stars that condensed out of the same molecular cloud, that produced our Sun. It is of the same age as our star and is very similar in chemical composition, though it is around 15% more massive and therefore hotter.
After around 20 orbits around our galaxy, it has gradually drifted apart from us and is now around 110 lightyears distant. In the early history of our solar system, it would have been one of the brightest stars in Earth's sky, but is now below naked-eye visibility.
This LRGB image is the result of 20min of data capture from Horsham, over an evening in August 2022. A ZWO ASI2600MM Pro monochrome camera was used, through an 8-inch Teleskop-Service Ritchey-Chretien Cassegrain reflector.
Date: 20/08/2022
Location: Horsham, West Sussex
Photographer: Graham Wilcock
