Sun Ate Young Super-Earth During Formation Of Solar System

A super-Earth may have once formed close to the sun. However, according recent reports, the primordial world was eventually devoured by the solar system's star after yielding to its gravity. The findings in a new study suggest that the young super-Earth may have been created after clearing the solid objects that lay between Mercury and the sun.

Researchers came to the derivation after noticing that this could be one of the plausible explanations for why there is nothing seen in the orbit of Mercury. "The only (physical) evidence that super-Earths could have formed in our solar system is the lack of anything in that region, not even a rock," said study researcher Rebecca Martin, from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Incidentally, a super-Earth is an exoplanet with a mass higher than that of earth but substantially lower compared to Uranus and Neptune, which are 15 and 17 earth masses, respectively, and considered the solar system's icy giants.

Martin and her team observed that it was kind of a puzzle that the solar system did not have super-Earths whereas the majority of discovered exoplanetary systems have one. The HD 219134b, which is the super-earth closest to our planet, is located about 21 light years away. According to the researchers, it may not be a coincidence that there is nothing in Mercury's orbit, and it could be attributed to a situ formation.

Super-Earths need to slowly develop from the debris in a young planetary system's protoplanetary disc, which is basically its deadzone, to form in situ. The occurrence can only take place in the presence of turbulence in an area caused by the magnetism of surrounding materials. The scientists feel that a super-Earth developed in situ in the solar system and this took away all of the materials inside Mercury's orbit. However, according to the study, the resulting primordial world was eventually consumed by the sun given the right conditions.