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How an exoplanet odd couple survived by traveling in from the cold together

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An artist's impression of the mini-Neptune TOI-1130b and its hot Jupiter companion, TOI-1130c, which both formed further out from their star before migrating inward. (Image credit: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT) A remote hot Jupiter exoplanet has foregone the typical solitary life that worlds of its kind normally lead, in favor of companionship with another planet — and now, astronomers think they know why. Hot Jupiter s are gas giants that orbit exceedingly close to their star. However, they don't form that close, but are rather assembled much farther out before migrating inward. When they make that trip, they usually kick out any other planets in their way — but the hot Jupiter TOI-1130c seems to have latched onto a smaller planet as a traveling companion. The two seem to have migrated towards their star together. "This was a one-of-a-kind system," said Huang in a statement . "Hot Jupiters are 'lonely', meaning that they don't have companion planets inside their orbits.…

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