This star just ate a planet, and it’s not done yet

Key Points:

• A star named TOI-5882, located about 1,300 light-years from Earth, shows chemical evidence of having engulfed a planet, likely caused by gravitational disruption from a closely orbiting brown dwarf companion.
• The brown dwarf, TOI-5882-b, is 22 times the mass of Jupiter and orbits the star every week, potentially having flung a neighboring planet into the star, resulting in the planet’s recent destruction within the last 2 billion years.
• TOI-5882 exhibits unusually high lithium levels, an element more common in planets than stars, supporting the theory that it consumed a planet despite not yet being a red giant.
• New models suggest the brown dwarf will be engulfed by TOI-5882 much sooner than previously thought, possibly within the next 25 to 30 million years, accelerating the star’s planetary consumption process.
• Researchers view TOI-5882 as a valuable case for studying planetary engulfment events, which provide insights into star and planet interactions and the dynamic evolution of planetary systems.