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Nature 436, 182-183 (14 July 2005) | doi:10.1038/436182a; Published online 13 July 2005

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Astronomy:  Giant planet seeks nursery place

Artie P. Hatzes1 & Günther Wuchterl2

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A further discovery of a planet in a binary star system — this time close in — could prove a problem for accepted theories of planetary formation. The implication is that there are more planets out there than we thought.

The first discovery ten years ago of 'Pegasi' planets1 — giant planets 100 times closer to their star than the Solar System's giant planets are to the Sun — shook long-held conceptions of planetary-system formation, which took the Solar System as a template. To square the new observations with the conventional model, some astronomers adopted theories of violent planetary migrations, in which the planets move around after they form.

  1. Artie P. Hatzes is at the Thuringia State Observatory, Sternwarte 5, Tautenburg 07778, Germany.
  2. Günther Wuchterl is at the Astrophysical Institute and University Observatory of the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Schillergässchen 2–3, 07745 Jena, Germany.
    Email: artie@tls-tautenburg.de
    Email: wuchterl@astro.uni-jena.de

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