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WASP-132 is a distinct multi-planet system because both an inner rocky world and the newly-discovered external huge world remain in a system with a hot-Jupiter world. This recommends the hot Jupiter moved by means of an unusual dynamically cool system and assists to advance the understanding of how hot Jupiter systems form and progress.
The WASP-132 system includes a hot Jupiter (foreground), an inner super-Earth (transiting in front of the orange host star) and the cold world WASP-132d. Image credit: Thibaut Roger, Université de Genève.
Hot Jupiters are worlds with masses comparable to those of Jupiter, however which orbit closer to their star than Mercury orbits the Sun.
There is inadequate gas and dust for these huge worlds to form where they are observed, so the accepted theory is that they come from far from their star and move inward as the planetary system progresses.
Previously, hot Jupiters were believed to orbit their star alone, as migration towards the star would eject other worlds in the system.
The 2 additional worlds in the WASP-132 planetary system now bring into question this theory.
“The WASP-132 system is an amazing lab for studying the development and advancement of multi-planetary systems,” stated Dr. François Bouchy, an astronomer at the Observatoire de Genève.
“The discovery of a hot Jupiter along with an inner super-Earth and a far-off huge bring into question our understanding of the development and advancement of these systems.”
“This is the very first time we have actually observed such a setup.”
The hot Jupiter, WASP-132b, orbits its moms and dad star in 7.1 days. The super-Earth, WASP-132c, orbits the star in simply 24 hours and 17 minutes.
The newly-discovered icy giant, called WASP-132d, orbits the host star in 5 years.
“The detection of the inner super-Earth was amazing as it’s especially uncommon to discover worlds interior to hot Jupiters,” stated University of Warwick’s Dr. David Armstrong.
“We performed an extensive project with advanced instruments to identify its mass, density and structure, exposing a world with a density comparable to that of the Earth.”
“This planetary discovery includes a layer of intricacy to the WASP-132 system as migration of a hot Jupiter towards its star through dynamical perturbation would destabilize the orbits of the other 2 worlds.”
“This recommends a more steady ‘cool’ migration course for the hot Jupiter in a protoplanetary disk that surrounds a young star and is the website of world development.”
The discovery is explained in a paper released today in the journal Astronomy & & Astrophysics
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Nolan Grieves et al2025. Discovery of a cold huge world and mass measurement of a hot super-Earth in the multi-planetary system WASP-132. A&A 693, A144; doi: 10.1051/ 0004-6361/2023 48177
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