A new study provides evidence that young stars are capable of devouring planets, or at least protoplanetary material, during the first phase of their existence. The results were obtained by analyzing the chemical composition of pairs of double stars.
There are many examples of exoplanets orbiting close to their star. So close that scientists assume they will eventually be swallowed up and incorporated into the stellar mass. This is a hypothesis that is being strengthened today by this new study regarding double star systems. Published in the magazine nature.
Two twin stars do not have the same chemical composition
If our solar system contains only one star, the Sun, then there are situations in the universe in which two stars are born at the same time from the same proto-solar disk. In theory, these “twin” stars should have an identical composition. However, researchers reveal that this is not the case once in twelve times.
Thanks to the feedback he provided telescopetelescope Magellan, VLT (Very Large Telescope)EsoEso) in Chile as well as the telescope cakecake in hawaii, AstrophysicistsAstrophysicists They were already able to observe differences in chemical composition within several pairs of twin stars out of the 91 pairs studied. This is a difference that, according to their opinion, can only be linked to…swallowswallow Planets by one of the two sisters.
Hungry young stars
The results seem even more important because the stars studied are all in their first stage of existence. Therefore, the situation is very different from that in which stars swallow planets at the end of their lives, and their size increases dramatically. This is also what will happen to Mercury, Venus and Earth in about 5 billion years.
This is thus the first example of young stars absorbing early planetesimal material. It is also not yet clear whether these stars have completely swallowed the already formed planets, or whether they have only swallowed protoplanetary material.
These results should provide a better understanding of the formation of planetary systems.
