Gentle or Jumping? The Varied Lives of "Hot Jupiters"
Monday, April 1, 2013 - 15:30
in Astronomy & Space
Ever since Swiss astronomers astonished the world by finding a gas-giant planet orbiting close to its star , researchers have wondered how these so-called hot Jupiters arose. None exists in our solar system, where the planetary giants--Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune--reside in the deep freeze beyond the asteroid belt. Now a surprising discovery is providing fresh insight, suggesting that the more iron a star was born with, the more likely it is that the star's hot Jupiter had a violent past. [More]