The discovery of an older star travelling through a star-forming region shows how these kinds of stars could provide essential radioactive elements to developing solar systems. These elements are needed to provide heat to the interiors of infant planets.

For the Earth, this heat may even have indirectly contributed to plate tectonics on our planet, which helps sustain a breathable atmosphere.

The study, by University of Sheffield and Imperial College London scientists, is published today in the journal Astrophysics Journal Letters.

Old, evolved stars called Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars, shed large quantities of radioactive chemical elements, in particular Aluminium-26 and Iron-60. These elements are known to be a heat source in the early Solar System, when the Earth was forming.

As it was believed AGB stars didn‘t have close encounters with young stars, the source of these elements was thought to be very massive stars that formed nearby. However, the radiation from these stars is thought to be so intense that it could actually stop planets from forming, creating a conundrum.

The new study reports the observation of an AGB star moving through a young star-forming region, presenting a potentially more viable way of providing these radioactive elements.

Lead author Dr Richard Parker, from the University of Sheffield, said: “AGB stars have been known to be a viable source of Aluminium-26 and Iron-60, but until now researchers have been sceptical that these old, evolved stars could ever meet young stars that are forming planets.

“By showing that AGB stars can meet young planetary systems, we have shown that other sources of Aluminium-26 and Iron-60, such as the winds and supernovae of very massive stars, may not be required to explain the origin of these chemical elements in our Solar System.”