Kepler-10 chemical composition

In order to further examine this scenario, we conducted a line-by-line differential chemical abundance analysis of the terrestrial planet host Kepler-10 and 14 of its stellar twins. Stellar parameters and elemental abundances of Kepler-10 and its stellar twins were obtained with very high precision using a strictly differential analysis of high quality Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, Hobby-Eberly Telescope and Magellan spectra.

When compared to the majority of thick disc twins, Kepler-10 shows a depletion in the refractory elements relative to the volatile elements, which could be due to the formation of terrestrial planets in the Kepler-10 system. The average abundance pattern corresponds to ~13 Earth masses, while the two known planets in Kepler-10 system have a combined ~20 Earth masses. For two of the eight thick disc twins, however, no depletion patterns are found.