Astronomers Find Sun's Twin

mroch writes "Space.com is reporting that astronomers may have found a solar twin -- a star almost exactly like our own Sun. Interesting tidbits from the article include: "The star, 18 Scorpii, sits about 47.5 light-years away in the constellation Scorpio, and has long-been suspected of being Sun-like. [...] The star burns slightly hotter than the Sun, at 5,789 degrees Kelvin compared to 5,777 degrees. It appears to rotate slightly faster than the Sun, taking 23 days to complete a rotation rather than the Sun's 25." It boggles my mind to think that we can measure temperature that exactly from 279,000,000,000,000 miles away, and that they are complaining over a 12-degree difference."

Comments

Earth's twin?

[eggstasy]

What do we know about that star and its surroundings? Is it likely to have inhabitable planets or is it bathed by lethal radiation from neighboring novas?
How long before we can actually check these stars for Earth-like planets? Last I heard, we now had the ability to detect planets slightly smaller than Jupiter. Will we find, or even see, an inhabitable planet within a few decades?