The existence of “hot Jupiters” is one of the oldest mysteries of the exoplanet hunting era, but a European spacecraft reveals some clues as to how these mysterious worlds formed.
The so-called hot Jupiters are planets that are approximately as massive as Jupiter and orbit very close to their stars, usually less than one-tenth of distance at which the Earth orbits the sun. Hot Jupiters are very different from anything seen in the solar system, which raises questions about their formation.
Now new data from the European Space Agency Gaia spacecraftwhich tracks more than a billion stars in Milky Wayprovided a fresh look at the formation, evolution, and relative age of hot Jupiters.
Connected: The strange exoplanet of “hot Jupiter” is shaped like a soccer ball
The researchers used Gaia’s measurements of the positions and velocities of objects to determine the relative ages of the stars. Combining this information with data on the alignment of hot Jupiters to the rotation of their stars has revealed that there are many ways in which hot Jupiters form – both fast and slow.
“Without this truly accurate method of measuring age, there has always been a lack of information,” said Jacob Hammer, a doctoral student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University and lead author of a new paper describing the findings in statement.
Hot Jupiters with orbits not aligned with the equator of their stars are thought to form late relative to those aligned, such as planets in our solar system.
“One [formation process] happens fast and produces aligned systems, and [the other] it happens on a longer scale and produces non-compliant systems, “Hamer said in a statement.
The work has been accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal, and a preprint version is available through arXiv database.
Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and onwards Facebook.
Add Comment