AP Columbae: Closest young star to the Earth

November 4, 2011

Recently, the planetary scientists have discovered the closest young star to Earth.

The star, named AP Columbae, is the closest so-called “pre mainsequence” star.
It is located in the constellation of Columba, which has been studied for the last 15 years, but was recently discovered to be very young and close to earth.
AP Columbae is about 40 million years old, which is very young compared to the age of the Earth; it formed after the dinosaurs became extinct and during a period when mammals were beginning to dominate the Earth.
The age of the star was estimated by calculating the amount of lithium present in the star, which rapidly decreases. AP Columbae is classified as a Red dwarf with an estimated surface temperature of 3500°C.
The star has not evolved into a main sequence star yet and is still in the pre-main-sequence stage. AP Columbae has a thousandth of the luminosity of our Sun.