Astronomers have just discovered a massive cluster of "hot Jupiters" in a galaxy cluster known as Messier 67. Scientists consider these hot Jupiters as basically exoplanets with the size and mass of Jupiter but located in a much closer orbit to their host stars.

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There are about 88 stars inside Messier 67 which are estimated to be the same age as the sun. Astronomers suggest that Messier 67 was created within the same conditions and environment as our solar system, as scientists have continued to study this cluster for the past seven years.

According to co-author of this study, Roberto Saglia from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, this open star cluster serves as a laboratory that can further explore the properties of exoplanets along with planet formation theories. He adds, these are not just many stars that can host possible exoplanets even Earth-like rocky planets but this is also considered as a very dense environment, where all of these star systems most likely formed.

To date, researchers have detected evidence of hot Jupiters inside three star systems among the 88 stars in Messier 67 which is equal to five percent. However, outside these star clusters, there is only less than one percent of hot Jupiters.

According to Anna Brucalassi from the European Southern Observatory's HARPS (High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher), which is a planet hunting telescope in Chile's La Still Observatory, this has been a really striking result.

Astronomers are suggesting that hot Jupiters most likely formed somewhere in their star systems but however, for some unknown reason, these exoplanets have migrated nearer their sun during their evolution.

Researchers theorize that stellar flybys could have thrown off hot Jupiters from their original orbits and pushed them closer to their host stars. For Messier 67, this cluster possesses a high density of stars, where it is possible that these stars' powerful gravitational forces could have affected each system more often than not.

This new study is published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

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