Credit: Artists impression by intouchable, © OPENVERSEAt least one in a dozen stars show evidence of planetary ingestion.At least one in a dozen stars show evidence of planetary ingestion according to a paper released on March 20 in the journal Nature.The international research group studied twin stars that must have similar composition. What makes this research study engaging is that the stars were in their prime of life– so-called primary sequence stars, rather than stars in their last stages such as red giants.”This is different from previous studies where late-stage stars can engulf nearby planets when the star ends up being a very giant ball,” Dr. Liu says.There is some space for doubt as to whether the stars are swallowing worlds entire or engulfing protoplanetary material however Dr. Liu believes both are possible.
By ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3D (ASTRO 3D) March 25, 2024A terrestrial planet being captured by a twin star. Credit: Artists impression by intouchable, © OPENVERSEAt least one in a dozen stars reveal proof of planetary ingestion.At least one in a lots stars reveal proof of planetary intake according to a paper released on March 20 in the journal Nature.The international research study group studied twin stars that ought to have similar composition. However, in about eight percent of cases, they differ, bewildering astronomers.The team, led by ASTRO 3D scientists has discovered that the difference is because of one of the twins feasting on planets or planetary material.Advanced Astronomical TechniquesThe findings have actually been enabled thanks to a big dataset gathered with the 6.5-meter Magellan Telescope and the European Southern Observatorys Very Large Telescope, both in Chile, and the 10-meter Keck Telescope in Hawaii, United States.”We looked at twin stars traveling together. They are born of the same molecular clouds and so should be similar,” states ASTRO 3D Researcher Dr. Fan Liu, from Monash University, and lead author of the paper.”Thanks to this extremely high accuracy analysis, we can see chemical distinctions in between the twins. This offers extremely strong evidence that one of the stars has actually swallowed worlds or planetary product and changed its structure.”Associate Professor Fan Liu. Credit: ASTRO 3DStellar Evolution InsightsThe phenomenon appeared in about eight percent of the 91 pairs of twin stars that the team took a look at. What makes this study compelling is that the stars were in their prime of life– so-called primary series stars, instead of stars in their final stages such as red giants.”This is various from previous research studies where late-stage stars can engulf close-by worlds when the star ends up being a very giant ball,” Dr. Liu says.There is some room for doubt as to whether the stars are swallowing worlds whole or engulfing protoplanetary material however Dr. Liu thinks both are possible.”Its complicated. The intake of the whole planet is our preferred scenario however obviously, we can likewise not rule out that these stars have actually consumed a lot of product from a protoplanetary disk,” he says.The findings have comprehensive implications for the research study of the long-term development of planetary systems.Astronomical Research Impact”Astronomers utilized to think that these type of occasions were not possible. From the observations in our study, we can see that, while the incident is not high, it is actually possible. This opens a brand-new window for planet development theorists to study,” says Associate Professor Yuan-Sen Ting, an astro and a co-author 3D scientist from the Australian National University (ANU). The study forms part of a larger collaboration, the Complete Census of Co-moving Pairs of Objects (C3PO) effort to spectroscopically observe a total sample of all brilliant co-moving stars identified by the Gaia astrometric satellite, which is jointly led by Liu, Ting, and Associate Professor David Yong (likewise with ASTRO 3D at ANU).”The findings presented here contribute to the huge picture of a key ASTRO 3D research theme: the Chemical Evolution of deep space. Specifically, they clarified the distribution of chemical components and their subsequent journey, that includes being consumed by stars,” said Professor Emma Ryan-Weber, Director of ASTRO 3D. Note: the scientists worked with twin stars known as co-natal– borne in the exact same molecular clouds and taking a trip together. They are not necessarily binary stars, though some of the sets were.Reference: “At least one in a dozen stars shows proof of planetary ingestion” by Fan Liu, Yuan-Sen Ting, David Yong, Bertram Bitsch, Amanda Karakas, Michael T. Murphy, Meridith Joyce, Aaron Dotter and Fei Dai, 20 March 2024, Nature.DOI: 10.1038/ s41586-024-07091-yScientists from Australias Swinburne University of Technology, University College Cork in Ireland, Carnegie Observatories, Ohio State University, Dartmouth College in United States, Konkoly Observatory in Hungry, and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy took part in the research.
