Earth May Have Had a Larger Cousin that the Sun Devoured
The Sun may have a few skeletons in the closet. The post Earth May Have Had a Larger Cousin that the Sun Devoured appeared first on Futurism .
New research published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society suggests that Earth may have had a larger cousin that was devoured by the Sun. According to a team of astronomers, a super-Earth several times more massive than our own may have left a chemical imprint deep inside the Sun. By modeling the Sun's evolution and comparing the results with precise observations of its interior, the researchers found that the ingestion of a super-Earth could help explain discrepancies between standard solar models and observations, including subtle changes in the Sun's internal structure and its depleted lithium abundance.
The study, conducted using open-source stellar evolution software, suggests that the Sun may have swallowed a super-Earth between five to ten times the mass of our planet, which could account for the Sun's low lithium levels. If true, the dissolved planetary material is hidden somewhere below the Sun's convection zone. Further research is needed to confirm these findings.
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