Krios and Kronos
Binary stars with extreme chemical differences; Kronos likely devoured its planets.
Krios and Kronos are a wide binary star system in Cassiopeia, notable for their extreme chemical difference. Kronos, a Sun-like star, appears to have consumed its own planets, absorbing at least 15 Earth masses of material. The pair formed about four billion years ago from the same interstellar cloud and orbit each other slowly.
Quick Facts
- Designations
- HD 240429 (Krios), HD 240430 (Kronos)
- Constellation
- Cassiopeia
- Distance from earth
- about 350 light years
- Age
- around four billion years
- Orbital period
- about 10,000 years
- Stellar type
- yellow G-type main-sequence stars
- Notable feature
- most chemically different binary stars discovered to date
Facts from the source article.
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