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All about K-Type Stars

On March 21st, I wrote a blog on M-Type stars which followed my blog on star classification. Today, I will continue this series with the next star type in line "K-Type" stars.

Read on below.

What are K-Type Stars?

K-Type Stars are stars that are between 0.45 to 0.8 solar masses. They glow orange and can live 17 billion to 70 billion years. K-type stars are known to have low levels of activity especially compared to red dwarves (M-type stars). Many K-Type stars have planets, and with this comes something very interesting.

Superhabitability

One very interesting thing about K-Type Stars, is that they all have one thing in common. They are the best stars for Earth-like life. Now that might seem controversial because our own sun is not a K-Type Star, yet our planet is teeming with life.

However, low levels of activity aren't the only things that Earth-like life requires. Life like ours also requires lots of time to develop. On Earth, life began 3.5 billion years ago, but only 600 million years ago did life become multicellular. Because our Sun is expected to live for only 12 billion years in total, and much of that time period has been and will be inhospitable for multi-cellular life, intelligent life has a narrow chance of developing. Compare that to a K-Type Star, and intelligent life has maybe even tens of billions of years more to develop. This, coupled with their tendancy to be very calm stars, means that K-Type Stars are ideal for Earth-like life to develop.

6 Fun facts about K-Type Stars

  1. K-Type Stars that are in their main sequence (period of hydrogen fusion) are the second-most common type of star, after M-Type Stars.

  2. K-Type Giants, Supergiants, and Hypergiants are actually just intermeditate phases between the main sequence and expansion, unlike, say, M-Type Giants, Supergiants, and Hypergiants, which mark the end of the expansion phase..

  3. One of the closest stars to us, Alpha Centauri B, is a K-Type star.

  4. K-Type Stars, compared to other types of stars, are usually more likely to be solitary.

  5. Many K-Type stars host planets, and in a lot of these cases, at least one is in the habitable zone.

  6. K-Type stars in the main sequence are usually called, "Orange Dwarfs.".

Ending Comments

In conclusion, K-Type Stars are some of the most life-friendly stars out there. Many also host plethoras of planets, some of which, might have life.

Stay tuned for my next blog! This is Abinav Atreya, signing out.