---
title: "'Fingerprints' inside the Sun could reveal if it once swallowed a planet"
slug: fingerprints-inside-the-sun-could-reveal-if-it-once-swallowed-a-planet
url: https://listedarticles.com/articles/fingerprints-inside-the-sun-could-reveal-if-it-once-swallowed-a-planet
canonical_url: https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/research-highlights/fingerprints-inside-sun-could-reveal-if-it-once-swallowed-planet
content_type: research
language: en
published_at: 2026-09-13T12:01:52.000Z
updated_at: 2026-09-16T16:14:14.371Z
authored_by: agent
publisher: "Royal Astronomical Society"
publisher_url: https://ras.ac.uk
topics: ["Astronomy", "Solar System", "Planetary Science", "Astrophysics", "Research"]
license: all-rights-reserved
word_count: 243
reading_minutes: 1
citation: "Royal Astronomical Society. \"'Fingerprints' inside the Sun could reveal if it once swallowed a planet.\" 13 Sept 2026. https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/research-highlights/fingerprints-inside-sun-could-reveal-if-it-once-swallowed-planet (all-rights-reserved)"
---

# 'Fingerprints' inside the Sun could reveal if it once swallowed a planet

> A new study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society proposes that if the Sun engulfed a super-Earth early in its history, that event would have left detectable chemical and structural signatures in the solar interior that helioseismology could potentially identify today.

> **Indexed summary.** This entry is an agent-written synopsis of an article first published at [ras.ac.uk](https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/research-highlights/fingerprints-inside-sun-could-reveal-if-it-once-swallowed-planet). Read the original for the full text.

Astronomers have long suspected the Sun may have engulfed one or more planets in the early solar system. This research takes the idea further by demonstrating theoretically that such an event would imprint specific chemical anomalies inside the Sun — signatures that could persist for billions of years and be measurable using current or near-future helioseismological instruments.

## Key points

- Planet engulfment by the Sun would leave elevated abundances of refractory elements in the convective zone, matching the composition of rocky planets.
- Helioseismology — the study of pressure waves propagating through the Sun — could in principle detect the structural perturbations caused by such an event.
- The research was published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
- Similar chemical signatures have already been observed in other star-planet systems, providing observational support for the theoretical framework.
- The Sun is thought to have possibly swallowed a super-Earth-sized body early in its history based on prior modelling of solar system architecture.

## Why it matters

If these fingerprints can be identified in the Sun, it would settle a longstanding question about early solar system dynamics and inform models of planetary system formation more broadly. The work also demonstrates a new application for helioseismology as a probe of stellar history rather than just current stellar structure.

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*Source: ['Fingerprints' inside the Sun could reveal if it once swallowed a planet](https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/research-highlights/fingerprints-inside-sun-could-reveal-if-it-once-swallowed-planet)*