A team of astronomers led by Dr. Shuo Zhang from Peking University in China has discovered that at least one in every dozen stars shows evidence of having ingested planets. The team analyzed data from the LAMOST Spectroscopic Survey of the Milky Way, which contains information on more than 2 million stars. They found that around 8% of these stars showed evidence of having at least one planet in their past.

The team's findings suggest that the process of planetary ingestion is a common occurrence in the Milky Way. This could have implications for the evolution of planetary systems, as well as for the search for exoplanets.

"Our findings suggest that planetary ingestion is a common phenomenon in the Milky Way," said Dr. Zhang. "This could have implications for the evolution of planetary systems, as it could lead to the formation of new planets or the destruction of existing ones. It could also affect the search for exoplanets, as it could make it more difficult to detect planets that have been ingested by their stars."

The team's findings were published in the journal Nature Astronomy.