What is unusual about the sun compared to many other stars?
The sun – Sol as it’s been named, is different to many other stars because it’s classed as a yellow dwarf. They are not entirely rare, but they’re not as common as other star types. Our solitary sun supports many planets as there is only one gravitational field that can affect the planet’s orbital paths. Many stars are found in clusters like binary stars, which can also support orbiting planets, although this is rare as the conflicting gravitational fields of the stars can often send planets into collision courses with each other or cause rotational wobbles, which would make them unsrtable. Yellow dwarves such as ours are considered one of the only star types that can support life because of the white to yellow light that’s given off and the length of time they can support life itself – about 5.5 billion years. Red and Blue giants are much bigger than our sun and the window for their ability to support life is much smaller, making complex life unlikely as during the window that the sta
