This is what a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated how a star consuming one of its planets could still retain the evidence of the event.
This study has the potential to help scientists better understand star-planet interactions and what this could mean for finding life beyond Earth.
For the study, the researchers tested longstanding theoretical models regarding what happens when a star consumes one of its planets and tested this on TOI-5882, which is is a Sun-like star located approximately 1,350 light-years from Earth.
The reason the researchers focused on lithium is planets have a high concentration of it while stars do not.
What new insights into stars consuming planets will researchers make in the coming years and decades?
Can stars keep the evidence after eating their planets? This is what a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated how a star consuming one of its planets could still retain the evidence of the event. This study has the potential to help scientists better understand star-planet interactions and what this could mean for finding life beyond Earth.
For the study, the researchers tested longstanding theoretical models regarding what happens when a star consumes one of its planets and tested this on TOI-5882, which is is a Sun-like star located approximately 1,350 light-years from Earth. Using the Tillinghast Reflector Echelle Spectrograph (TRES), which is mounted on the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory in Arizona, the team measured the lithium content of TOI-5882. The reason the researchers focused on lithium is planets have a high concentration of it while stars do not. In the end, the researchers found that TOI-5882 has an unusually high concentration of lithium within its atmosphere, indicating it recently consumed one of its planets.
"Lithium atoms delivered by planetary engulfment to a star are like sports fans arriving at a stadium," said Dr. Seth Jacobson, who is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences at Michigan State University and a co-author on the study. "There may already be a few early arriving fans present, representing the initial amount of lithium in the stellar atmosphere, but they are quickly outnumbered."
Exoplanetary systems continue to teach astronomers how both fascinating and mysterious our cosmos is compared to the neatness and organization of our own solar system. Studies like this demonstrate that scientists still have a lot to learn about exoplanetary systems and where we can potentially find life beyond Earth.
What new insights into stars consuming planets will researchers make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: The Astrophysical Journal, EurekAlert!
Featured Illustration Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
