Astronomers have propose a   novel mannequin of star formation that will definitely station the astrophysical world buzzing . Their research suggests that every sun - corresponding whizz in the population almost certainly formed in pairs .

The inquiry , accept for issue in theMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society , focused on the Perseus molecular swarm located   600 light - eld from Earth . This region is full of young stars forming in a heavy cloud , so astronomers looked at how the observed population might have risen . The most likely scenario they feel is that stars form in pairs .

“ We ran a series of statistical models to see if we could account for the relative population of young single wiz and binaries of all separations in the Perseus molecular cloud , and the only mannikin that could reproduce the data was one in which all whiz take shape ab initio as wide binary , ” co - author Steven Stahler , from UC Berkeley , say in astatement . " These systems then either shrink or go aside within a million days . "

The squad define wide double star as stars further than 75 billion kilometers ( 46.5 billion miles ) apart . For decades , research worker have known that little area in the gas cloud begin to collapse on themselves to form stars . These dense core are egg - form and inside the cocoon , suggest the researchers , there are   two stars , not one .

“ The idea that many champion form with a companion has been suggest before , but the head is : how many ? ” added first author Sarah Sadavoy , a NASA Hubble Fellow at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory . “ Based on our simple model , we say that nearly all stars form with a companion . The Perseus swarm is in the main considered a distinctive low-down - wad star - forming region , but our fashion model needs to be checked in other cloud . ”

The uranologist observed 55 young stars in 24 multiple - star scheme ( five systems had more than two stars ) and 45 exclusive - star system . They divide them into two Set : Class 0 were whiz younger than 500,000 year old and Class I were those between 500,000 and 1 million years quondam . All the wide binaries were Class 0 and aligned with the axis of the egg - shaped gas cocoon . social class I double star were alternatively closer together and did not align along the axis .

“ This has not been seen before or tested , and is extremely interesting , ” Sadavoy said . “ We do n’t yet know quite what it mean , but it is n’t random and must say something about the direction wide binaries soma . ”

The project is not the first one to evoke thatstars form in binary , but it does provide some new potential explanations . Their observations of the youngest star are an indication of how   stars might form . Our sun might even have a long - lost twin .