Hot Jupiters Phenomenon

Among the strangest exoplanet discoveries are hot Jupiters — gas giants orbiting their stars in just a few days, closer than Mercury orbits the Sun. These worlds have surface temperatures exceeding 1,000C, with clouds of vaporized iron and rain made of liquid gems.

Hot Jupiters cannot have formed where they are now — the region is too hot and gas-poor. They must have migrated inward from where they formed, sweeping through the inner system and potentially ejecting or consuming any rocky planets in their path.