What if Spica replaced our Sun?
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Question by @Yellowdudecool — thank you!
Spica, the brightest star in Virgo, is about 250 light years away. It is really a close pair of hot blue stars that orbit each other about every four days. The hotter star is about 22,000 degrees Celsius at the surface, roughly four times hotter than our Sun, and together the pair shines more than 12,000 times brighter than the Sun (some estimates are even higher). If Spica replaced the Sun, Earth would be roasted, and a comfortable distance would lie far beyond Pluto's orbit.
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Transcript
- Sef Yellow Dude Cool asks: What if we replaced the Sun with Spica?
- Sef Easy! Just a sunnier day. Perfect for fetch!
- Tiggy Nope. Earth would get roasted.
- Tiggy Spica burns blue, 4 times hotter than our Sun.
- Tiggy And it shines over twelve thousand times brighter.
- Sef Whoa! Where do we live?
- Tiggy Way out past Pluto, to stay comfy.
- Tiggy Plus, Spica is two stars. Double sunburn!
Sources
- EarthSky: Spica, the 15th brightest star earthsky.org
- Wikipedia: Spica en.wikipedia.org
- Star Facts: Spica star-facts.com
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