Hot Jupiter

An artist's impression of a hot Jupiter orbiting close to its star.

Hot Jupiters (sometimes called hot Saturns) are a class of gas giant exoplanets that are inferred to be physically similar to Jupiter but that have very short orbital periods (P < 10 days).[1] The close proximity to their stars and high surface-atmosphere temperatures resulted in their informal name "hot Jupiters".[2]

Hot Jupiters are the easiest extrasolar planets to detect via the radial-velocity method, because the oscillations they induce in their parent stars' motion are relatively large and rapid compared to those of other known types of planets. One of the best-known hot Jupiters is 51 Pegasi b. Discovered in 1995, it was the first extrasolar planet found orbiting a Sun-like star. 51 Pegasi b has an orbital period of about 4 days.[3]

  1. ^ Wang, Ji; Fischer, Debra A.; Horch, Elliott P.; Huang, Xu (2015). "On the Occurrence Rate of Hot Jupiters in Different Stellar Environments". The Astrophysical Journal. 799 (2): 229. arXiv:1412.1731. Bibcode:2015ApJ...799..229W. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/799/2/229. S2CID 119117019.
  2. ^ "What worlds are out there?". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 25 August 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  3. ^ Wenz, John (10 October 2019). "Lessons from scorching hot weirdo-planets". Knowable Magazine. Annual Reviews. doi:10.1146/knowable-101019-2. Retrieved 4 April 2022.