Astronomers explain why hot Jupiter and mini-Neptune share 1 star
Astronomers just figured out why two very different planets, a giant hot Jupiter and a smaller mini-Neptune are peacefully orbiting the same star 190 light-years from Earth.
Normally, the big planet's gravity would send its neighbor flying off into space, but these two have stayed in sync since their discovery in 2020.
MIT led study finds inward migration
An MIT-led team found both planets probably formed far from their star (past something called the "frost line") and then drifted inward together without losing what makes them unique.
Thanks to NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, they discovered that the mini-Neptune still has a surprisingly thick atmosphere full of heavy molecules like water vapor and carbon dioxide.
This challenges old ideas about how close-in planets should look and gives us new clues about how planetary systems evolve.