Astronomers develop new methods to detect consumed planets and analyze brown dwarf weather

Astronomers have developed a new method to identify stars that have consumed orbiting planets by analyzing chemical compositions. A team led by the University of São Paulo utilized differences in beryllium and lithium levels to detect planetary matter ingestion. By studying the binary star system HD 129171, researchers found an excess of refractory elements and beryllium, suggesting the star absorbed rocky material exceeding 11 Earth masses.

In a separate study, researchers from Trinity College Dublin used James Webb Space Telescope data to analyze the weather patterns of the brown dwarf SIMP 0136, located 20 light-years away. The findings, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, reveal that the object's atmosphere undergoes cyclic changes driven by temperature fluctuations and vertical cloud structures. The weather patterns on SIMP 0136 resemble the extreme gas storms found on Jupiter rather than Earth-like conditions.