Unusual Gas Giant

[Greasetrap42]

I have never noticed a gas giant like this, so close to the star.

I was very surprised. Is it unusual? Can a Gas Giant really exist this close to a star?

Class V Gas Giant, 6.83Ls from the star. 577 Earth masses.

 

[Chrismasterski]

Those are known as hot Jupiters and while they aren't extremely rare, they definitely aren't common

 

[Sapyx]

They are called Hot Jupiters and they are are a real-world astronomical phenomenon. They are, in fact, the easiest planets for us to detect with 21st century technology as they are so large, they either block out a significant portion of the star's light or they make the star wobble back and forth as the planet orbits it, which we can detect spectroscopically. They are not "common", but there's plenty of them out there that we already know about.

Edit: Ninjas. Ninjas everywhere.

 

[Greasetrap42]

Thanks for the info, I learned something really cool tonight! I just googled hot jupiters, really interesting.

 

[Orvidius]

I absolutely love finding these. You'll come across them only occasionally.

Now to go down a rabbit hole for a moment,

The one disappointing aspect of Hot Jupiters in ED is that they expose one of the flaws (cheats) that the game uses for lighting. There is only one main light source active, and it is "infinitely" far away, even if you're right next to the star. In the screenshot below, the star is in the foreground. It's closer to the camera than the planet is, but the planet is mostly backlit anyway, because the light's direction is determined by your own angle to the star:

 

[Rooster Podunk]

 

[BradHann]

There's a "Hot Jupiter" tourist beacon not far from Elvira's base. Not being much of an astronomy boffin, the first time I bumped into it I had to google what a Hot Jupiter was. Elite Dangerous has opened my eyes to many scientific phenomena.