Sun may have swallowed a super-Earth billions of years ago

New solar-evolution models suggest the young Sun may have swallowed a rocky super-Earth billions of years ago. Research led by Professor Mutlu Yıldız of Ege University indicates that such an event could have left a lasting chemical fingerprint deep within the star's interior.

Published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the study used stellar-evolution calculations to test if the engulfment of planetary material could resolve discrepancies in standard solar models. The best-fitting scenarios suggest a planet with a mass between 5 and 10 times that of Earth.

This hypothesis aims to improve the alignment between theoretical models and actual helioseismic measurements, specifically addressing the Sun’s internal sound-speed profile and its unusually low lithium abundance. While the event has not been directly observed, the model suggests a compact rocky world could penetrate deep enough into the Sun to leave a detectable imprint that survives for billions of years.