New observations of HD 80606b raise questions about origins of so-called hot Jupiters, a class of short-period gas giants with a mass similar to Jupiter’s, says a team of astronomers led by MIT scientist Dr. Julien de Wit. An artist’s concept of a hot Jupiter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / G. Bacon, STScI. HD 80606b is a giant extrasolar planet orbiting a star in the constellation of Ursa Major, about 190 light-years away. This planet is about the...
