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Caption: Stars eat their planets. And it might happen more often than you think. New research suggests that at least 1 in 12 stars may have swallowed their own planets. … more Stars eat their planets. And it might happen more often than you think. New research suggests that at least 1 in 12 stars may have swallowed their own planets. Yikes. So how do astronomers figure that out? It comes down to the chemical fingerprint of stars. When astronomers observe a star using a spectrograph, they see dark lines in the light called absorption lines. These reveal the star’s chemical makeup — like a barcode telling us what elements are inside it. Normally, stars that are born together should have identical chemical compositions, because they formed from the same cloud of gas. But sometimes… they don’t. Researchers looked at pairs of stars that formed together and compared their chemical fingerprints. If one star shows slightly different chemistry, it could mean it swallowed planets or planet-forming material during its lifetime. Using data from the Gaia mission, scientists identified 91 stellar pairs moving together through space. In at least seven of those pairs, one star showed chemical evidence of planetary snacking. That’s how astronomers estimate that about one in twelve stars may have eaten their planets. So the next time you look up at the night sky… some of those stars might have a very messy family history. #Astronomy #Stars #Exoplanets #Space #Astrophysics less
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