Access
This article is part of Nature's premium content.
Published online 11 November 2009 |
Nature
| doi:10.1038/news.2009.1078
Corrected online: 12 November 2009
News
Lithium loss may be the planet-hunter's gain
Depletion of the element in stars might be linked to the existence of extrasolar planets.
The amount of lithium on the surface of a Sun-like star could be a telltale sign that it is orbited by extrasolar planets — a finding that could speed astronomers' attempts to detect them.
Astronomer Garik Israelian of the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands in Tenerife, Spain, and his colleagues, found evidence for the link by comparing planet-hosting and planet-free stars.
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
Comments
Reader comments are usually moderated after posting. If you find something offensive or inappropriate, you can speed this process by clicking 'Report this comment' (or, if that doesn't work for you, email webadmin@nature.com). For more controversial topics, we reserve the right to moderate before comments are published.
I don't know if the gravitational tug of a planet is enough to slow a star to the point where stellar convection is affected this strongly. I am a believer that our our Sun had likely went nova prior to our current Solar System [thus providing the Earth and other inner planets with abundant iron and heavy metals such as uranium]. If inner rocky planets rich in metals form around stars that have already ejected nova-derived, post-iron elements, would this discovery suggest planets could be found by looking for stars that had explosively depleted their outer shell of lithium?