Article Posted on : - Sep 03, 2010

An artistic conception of the newly-detected star. A CNES photo

PARIS (BNS): A distant star vibrating and oscillating like our Sun has been detected by French satellite CoRoT in the constellation of Unicorn.

The star, lying 100 light years away, has been studied by an international team of researchers using data provided by CoRoT. The results of their research reveal a stellar activity cycle similar to that of the Sun.

The new-found star, named HD49933, is 20 percent more massive and 34 percent larger than the Sun. The CoRoT (COnvection ROtation and planetary Transits) satellite has detected a stellar cycle nearly 20 times faster than the Sun, French space agency CNES said.

The cycle of a star, during which its inner structure changes, is directly related to its magnetic activity. Researchers, however, are yet to uncover more about the underlying mechanisms driving such a process.

“For the Sun, we have solid hypotheses; in particular, we think that magnetic activity is linked to rotation of the Sun’s core, but we lack data to refine this theory,” says Olivier La Marle, in charge of astrophysics programmes at CNES.

"Now that we know we can study stellar cycles and magnetic activity by measuring their brightness variations, we are going to be able to look at the light profile of hundreds of stars, refine our models and gain new insights in this area,” Marle adds.

And CoRoT will be supported by the Kepler satellite in this quest.