Planetary Scientists Discovered the Closest Young Star to Earth

Planetary scientists have discovered the closest young star to Earth. An international team carried out a research and showed that the star, named AP Columbae, is the closest so-called pre mainsequence star.

Scientists used the telescopes in Coonabarabran, Chile, Hawai and California to show that the red-dwarf star AP Columbae is the closest to the Earth. Scientists added that for decades it was believed that young stars only resided in vast star-forming regions like Orion Nebula. These regions are usually hundreds of light years away from Earth. Scientists have carried out accurate, all sky surveys to find young stars much closer to home.

A pre-main-sequence star (also known as a PMS star and PMS object) is a star in the stage when it has not yet reached the main sequence. It can be a T Tauri star or FU Orionis star (<2 solar mass) or an Herbig Ae/Be stars (2-8 solar mass). The energy source of these objects is gravitational contraction.