HAT-P-34 is a Sun-like F-type star (about 1.39 solar masses, 6,442 K, 1.53 solar radii), 249 light-years from Earth. HAT-P-34 b is a 3.33-Jupiter-mass companion, with an orbital period of 5.5 days, at 0.068 AU from its star, on an eccentric orbit (e ≈ 0.43), discovered in 2011 via transit. The inner world is a hot Jupiter — a gas giant hugging its star at a fraction of Mercury's distance — a class that forced astronomers to rethink how giant planets form and migrate inward.