As of this writing, almost 5,300 exoplanets spanning approximately 4,000 planetary systems have been confirmed to exist in our universe. With each new exoplanet discovery, scientists continue to learn more about planetary formation and evolution, which has already shaken our understanding of this process down to its very core. One such example is "Hot Jupiters," which are Jupiter-sized exoplanets, or larger, that orbit closer to their parent's stars than Mercury does to our own. This is in stark contrast to our own Solar System, which has rocky planets closer to our Sun and giant gas planets much farther out.
