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Did Our Sun Swallow a Planet? New Research Suggests It May Have Consumed a Super-Earth
Computer models show a dense rocky planet could explain the Sun’s low lithium and interior structure, researchers said.
- Astronomers suggest the sun may have consumed a massive, rocky planet early in its history, potentially explaining its unique chemical composition and internal structure.
- The sun's surface contains over 100 times less lithium than expected, a chemical deficit suggesting heavy material was dragged deep into the sun's interior during its formation.
- Mutlu Yildiz, an astronomy professor at Ege University in Turkey, used computer simulations showing a swallowed super-Earth about five to 10 times more massive than Earth aligns with solar measurements.
- Yildiz named the hypothetical planet Dev Dilek, meaning 'Great Wish' in Turkish, with the devoured world's heavy elements helping solar models match real-world observations more closely.
- While the theory remains unproven, Yildiz stated, "The next step is to see if these fingerprints can be independently detected," as researchers continue studying planetary consumption by stars.
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23 Articles
23 Articles
Planets larger than Earth but smaller than Neptune are extraordinarily common around other stars, yet our solar system has none. New solar-evolution modelling offers a dramatic possibility: the young Sun may have swallowed a rocky planet five to ten times Earth’s mass, leaving chemical and seismic fingerprints that could still be hidden inside it today.
Solar-evolution models favour engulfment of a compact world near 5.6 Earth masses, but the result is an indirect fit to helioseismic and chemical constraints rather than a detected lost planet.
·Australia
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Did the Sun devour a planet in the early days of the Solar System? A new study suggests that this episode may have left a chemical signature inside our star, capable of helping to...
·Lisboa, Portugal
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Total News Sources23
Leaning Left3Leaning Right1Center11Last UpdatedBias Distribution73% Center
Bias Distribution
- 73% of the sources are Center
73% Center
L 20%
C 73%
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