HAT-P-61 is a Sun-like G-type star (about 1.00 solar masses, 5,587 K, 0.94 solar radii), 339 light-years from Earth. HAT-P-61 b is a 1.06-Jupiter-mass companion, with an orbital period of 1.9 days, at 0.030 AU from its star, and an equilibrium temperature near 1,505 K, on an eccentric orbit (e ≈ 0.11), discovered in 2021 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.