A curious family of giant exoplanets
Monday, May 25, 2015 - 08:00
in Astronomy & Space
There are 565 exoplanets currently known that are as massive as Jupiter or bigger, about one third of the total known, confirmed exoplanet population. About one quarter of the massive population orbits very close to its star, with periods of less than ten days (the Earth takes about 365 days to orbit the Sun). Heated by the nearby star's radiation, these giants are often called hot Jupiters.