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Evidence for a Solar Companion Star

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2017

Richard A. Muller
Richard A. Muller*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720

Abstract

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Periodicity seen in both the mass extinctions and large impact cratering on earth can be explained if one postulates that the sun has a companion star, orbiting in a moderately eccentric orbit with a major axis of 2.8 light-years. No other explanations that have been suggested are compatible with known facts of physics and astronomy. If the companion is a red dwarf star, the most common kind in the galaxy, then no previous astronomical observations would have found it. A search for red objects with large parallax is now underway at Berkeley, and has a good chance of identifying the star in the near future.

Type
Section IV. Universal Aspects of Biological Evolution
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 112: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life: Recent Developments , 1985 , pp. 233 - 243
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1985 

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