---
title: "Astronomers Warn That Our Sun Is Having a “Midlife Crisis”"
description: "Astronomers are baffled by why our Sun is so quiet compared to similar stars. One guess is that it's having a sort of \"midlife crisis\" transition."
date: "2020-05-01"
modified: "2020-05-01"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski.md"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/astronomers-warn-sun-having-midlife-crisis"
categories:
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "space"
  - "Sun"
  - "the digest"
---

# Astronomers Warn That Our Sun Is Having a “Midlife Crisis”

![Astronomers are baffled by why our Sun is so quiet compared to similar stars. One guess is that it's having a sort of "midlife crisis" transition.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/astronomers-claim-sun-having-midlife-crisis.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA\</em\>*

## Coping Mechanism

The Sun is behaving oddly compared to its cosmic peers, making astronomers think that it may be in the middle of some sort of [transition period.](<https://futurism.com/scientists-new-data-nasa-solar-probe.md>)

In a survey of the Sun and 369 other stars that share its properties, Max Planck Institute astronomers found that the Sun is far less active than the others, *[Inverse ](<https://www.inverse.com/science/why-is-the-sun-different>)*[reports](<https://www.inverse.com/science/why-is-the-sun-different>). And the leading explanation is that the Sun may be in the middle of a sort of "midlife crisis."

## Keeping Calm

Over the last four years, the brightness of the other stars fluctuated wildly, whereas the Sun stayed relatively constant, [according to research](<https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6490/466>) published Friday in the journal *Science*. In fact, the difference between the Sun's brightest and dimmest moments is a fifth the size of other stars.

"We wanted to see if the Sun is somehow different," Max Planck Institute researcher Timo Reinhold told *Inverse*. "People have claimed that it’s more quiet than other stars, while others have claimed that it's similarly active so we wanted to really boil it down to this very solar-like sample that is very similar to the Sun."

## Halfway There

It's possible that the Sun is merely at a different stage of some sort of cyclic pattern than the other stars. But because it's also halfway through its expected [nine billion-year lifespan](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/sun-dying-obliterate-destruction-asteroid-belt.md>), it's possible that our Sun is in the middle of a particularly tranquil mid-way point of its life.

"Another explanation is the Sun is in its midlife crisis," Reinhold told *Inverse.*

**READ MORE:** [THE SUN'S MIDLIFE CRISIS COULD BE MAKING IT STAND OUT IN THE UNIVERSE](<https://www.inverse.com/science/why-is-the-sun-different>) \[*Inverse*\]

**More on the Sun:** *[Scientists Mystified: Sun’s Magnetic Field Appears to be Flipping](<https://futurism.com/scientists-new-data-nasa-solar-probe.md>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)

## More

- [Astronomers Just Took the First-Ever Picture of the Bottom of the Sun](<https://futurism.com/first-picture-bottom-sun.md>)
- [Astronomers Discover “Mirror Image” of Our Solar System](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/astronomers-discover-mirror-image-solar-system.md>)
- [Science Explained: How Does Our Sun Work?](<https://futurism.com/20083.md>)
- [Scientists Release Stunning Picture Taken Really Close to the Sun](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/stunning-picture-close-sun.md>)
- [In Its Dying Gasp, Our Sun Will Obliterate the Asteroid Belt](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/sun-dying-obliterate-destruction-asteroid-belt.md>)
- [Astronomers Discover “Interstellar Tunnel” In Our Solar Neighborhood](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/astronomers-discover-interstellar-tunnel.md>)
- [Ludicrously Close Up Shots of the Sun Look Nothing Like You’d Expect](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/close-up-shots-of-the-sun.md>)
- [Scientists Observe a Star That Spews Plasma — And It’s Not Our Sun](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/cme-star-spewing-plasma.md>)