Yahoo News Scorching Jupiter-Like Planet Throws Wrench in Planet Migration Ideas
Data from the Spitzer telescope show that the planet does not dissipate much heat and that its orbit will take an astounding 10 billion years or more to become circular. That contradicts the existing theory because the universe is less than 14 billion years old.
"The long time scales we are observing here suggest that a leading migration mechanism may not be as efficient for hot-Jupiter formation as once believed," Greg Laughlin, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a co-author of the study, said in the same statement.
Instead, data from the Spitzer telescope suggest that some competing theories may be responsible for hot Jupiters. In these scenarios, the planets either form close to their star or are pushed there with help from planet-forming discs.
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