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Credit: Gabi Perez (IAC)
Explanation:
Stars like HD 82943 are main
sequence G dwarf stars with
temperatures and compositions similar
to
the Sun.
Also like the Sun, HD 82943 is
known to have at least
two giant planets,
but unlike gas giants in our solar system
their orbits are not nearly circular and bring them closer to the
parent star.
Astronomers now point to strong observational
evidence that HD 82943
used to have more planets ... but swallowed them in the past.
Such a cosmic cataclysm is illustrated above in an artist's
dramatic vision.
As a result, planetary debris would contaminate the outer
layers of HD 82943.
Researchers using a
high resolution spectrograph at the
European Southern Observatory's
Kueyen telescope believe they have
seen a clear signature of this contamination by
identifying the isotope
Lithium-6 in this
sun-like star's spectrum.
Because the light element Lithium-6 is so readily destroyed
in nuclear reactions during star formation, no significant Lithium-6
should now exist in HD 82943.
Startlingly, perhaps the most likely explanation for the presence of
Lithium-6 today is that it is left over from planetary material which
formed separately and was then absorbed by the parent star.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: extrasolar planet - star - hd82943 - spectroscopy - lithium
Publications with words: extrasolar planet - star - hd82943 - spectroscopy - lithium
See also:
- APOD: 2024 July 8 Á Exoplanet Zoo: Other Stars
- APOD: 2024 June 16 Á Animation: Black Hole Destroys Star
- Temperatures on Exoplanet WASP 43b
- Epsilon Tauri: Star with Planet
- APOD: 2023 October 17 Á PDS 70: Disk, Planets, and Moons
- APOD: 2023 September 20 Á Methane Discovered on Distant Exoplanet
- APOD: 2023 June 6 Á Star Eats Planet