ingesting planets tagged posts

HIP68468, a twin star to the sun about 300 light-years away, may have swallowed one or more of its planets, based on lithium and refractory elements recently discovered near its surface. Credit: Illustration by Gabi Perez / Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias

An international team has made the rare discovery of a planetary system with a host star similar to Earth’s sun. Especially intriguing is the star’s unusual composition, which indicates it ingested some of its planets. “It doesn’t mean that the sun will ‘eat’ the Earth any time soon,” said Jacob Bean, assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UChicago. “But our discovery provides an indication that violent histories may be common for planetary systems, including our own.”

Unlike the artificial planet-destroying Death Star...