Ever since Swiss astronomers astonished the world by finding a gas-giant planet orbiting close to its star , researchers have wondered how these so-called hot Jupiters arose. None exists in our solar system, where the planetary giants--Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune--reside in the deep freeze beyond the asteroid belt. Now a surprising discovery is providing fresh insight, suggesting that the more iron a star was born with, the more likely it is that the star's hot Jupiter had a violent past.
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