Planet-eating stars more common than previously thought, astrophysicists find

Artist’s impression of a star ingesting planetary material. Scientists say in one in 12 pairs of stars monitored, one star had taken in enough planetary material to change its chemical composition. Illustration: Intouchable/Openverse

Planet-eating stars are more abundant in the universe than previously thought, an Australian-led study has found.

The study, by the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in Three Dimensions (Astro 3D), looked at “co-natal” or twin stars, born from the same molecular cloud, where one had “eaten” a planet and the other had not.