Studying the Sun has let us to understand a lot about how stars work , but other star also can provide clues about our red-hot companion . To help with that , astronomers have been studying solar Twin , stars that look like our Sun .
Among these , an international squad of scientist discover a gruesome example : a satellite - eating asterisk . The object , known as HIP 68468 , is orbited by two satellite and is 6 billion years sometime , making it 20 percent older than our own Solar System . This discovery is reported in Astronomy & Astrophysics , and is uncommitted onarXiv .
But do n’t let this star fool you . observation show the corpse of one or more planets are scatter out through the genius ’s ambience . The team insure refractory alloy and lithium , but both – especially the atomic number 3 – should have been consume over the star ’s life-time .
The fact that it ’s still there intimate that , like a mammoth Pacman gobbling up white dots , HIP 68468 has eat some of its major planet . Based on the lithium , six Earth ’s Charles Frederick Worth of rocky materials were consumed .
" This written report of HIP68468 is a post - mortem of this process encounter around another whiz similar to our sun . The discovery heighten our understanding of the development of world organisation , " senior author Professor Debra Fischer from Yale University say in astatement .
The system , turn up 300 faint - years from Earth , still has two outlast exoplanets . The first one is three times the mass of Earth , and the 2d one is 50 percent heavy than Neptune . But while the big planets in our Solar System are located further aside , these two scope very tight to their star .
The A-one - Earth orbits HIP 68468 in just three days , and the hot Neptune is at a Venus - alike length . These being so close , couple with the planets already eaten by the genius , indicate that a cosmic secret plan of towboat - of - warfare ended badly for the planets , and they have been pulled closer and closer to the adept .
“ These two planets most likely did n’t take shape where we see them today , ” said Megan Bedell , a University of Chicago doctorial student , who is a co - author of the enquiry and the lead satellite finder for the collaboration .
While a planet - exhaust star is interesting , it does n’t stand for it will pass off to our Solar System . At the same clock time , this is a reminder that stars are unfeignedly terrific .
