This Planet Is Six Times Massive Than Jupiter. Scientists Have Captured a Photo of It

The planet discovered by scientists is located in the vicinity of the star Epsilon Indi, 12 light years from Earth, which is not a large distance in the realities of the Universe. Previous analyses suggested that a giant planet could orbit it, but there was no direct observational evidence for this. The James Webb Space Telescope provided it, sending images of the previously unknown globe. The results of the observations were described in the journal “Nature”.

The exoplanet – named Epsilon Indi Ab – has been classified as a super-Jupiter. Data from Webb suggests it has a mass six times that of Jupiter. The unusual globe is both exceptionally bright and cold – its temperature is around 0 degrees Celsius. Scientists say it is one of the coldest gas giants ever discovered. Its atmosphere could contain large amounts of heavy elements such as carbon. Epsilon Indi Ab is on an elliptical, highly elongated orbit, taking about 200 years to orbit its parent star.

To take this image of the closest super-Jupiter to Earth, a research team from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg used the Mid Infared Instrument (MIRI) camera equipped with a coronagraph. This allowed scientists to block out the light of the star Epsilon Indi A, allowing them to record the radiation from the gas giant orbiting it. Previous studies have tried to study the giant planet using radial velocity measurements, but they have led to incorrect conclusions about the giant's properties.

“Our next goal is to obtain spectra that will provide us with detailed data on the planet's climate and chemical composition,” says Thomas Henning, director emeritus of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg.

Scientists also hope that the technology used in the study will enable the discovery of other cold gas giants that may have previously “eluded their notice.”