Astronomer reveals which star is orbited by the planet of Superman
Superman recently made a drastic decision in his life: he resigned and became a blogger. Now DC Comics is surprising readers once again, populating the Man of Steel stories with scientific details that push the boundaries of fiction. In Issue 14 of Action Comics Superman, renowned scientist (and "Ui" meme) Neil deGrasse Tyson appears to give more details about Krypton, the planet where the hero was born.
According to Phil Plait, creator of Bad Astronomy blog, the only officially released information about Krypton is that the planet orbited a red star. This type of star can be very small and weak or a massive supergiant, such as Betelgeuse, which is tens of times the size of our sun.
Krypton Orbits a Real Star
Now DC Comics has contacted astronomer Neil Tyson to find a star that could be orbited by Krypton. And the work was not very easy. Supergiants, for example, would not fit the case, as they explode and become a supernova when they are very young. That would have devastated Krypton before he could harbor an advanced civilization.
The red giants could fit the story, if not for one small detail: none of them have the right distance to fit into the story. Therefore, the only way out would be to find a red dwarf star, which besides being in the thousands, can be quite old and have the expected distance to conform to the script.
With all these considerations in mind, Tyson's chosen star was LHS 2520, which is south of the Raven constellation.
Life Presence In Krypton Would Be Hard
Based on the data provided by the new journal and his own experience as an astronomer, Phil Plait performed some calculations on his own and found that LHS 2520 may not be able to provide the minimum conditions necessary for the emergence of life in Krypton.
According to Plait, the red dwarf elected by Tyson is “only” 100 million kilometers from Kal-El's home planet, which is closer than we are to our Sun (150 million km). However, the Krypton sun is so weak and cold that it would make the planet very cold, with an average temperature of -170 ° C.
Under these conditions, oxygen and nitrogen are still in their gaseous forms, but not water. Therefore, Krypton does not seem to be the best planet for life to emerge. However, Plait says DC Comics can take another turn in history, telling, for example, that the Kryptonians migrated there in an attempt to find a new home.
The new issue of Action Comics Superman comes out on November 7th. Brazilian fans can buy it online through DC Comics' own digital magazine platform (an international credit card is required for this).
