Webb Telescope Captures Super-Jupiter Exoplanet 12 Light Years Away
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured an image of Epsilon Indi Ab, a "super-Jupiter" exoplanet located approximately 12 light-years away from Earth. This planet, which is several times the mass of Jupiter, orbits the K-type star Epsilon Indi A, a star similar in age to our Sun but slightly cooler. The observations were made using the coronagraph on Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), which allowed the telescope to block the light from the star and capture the faint light from the planet.
Epsilon Indi Ab is notable for its cold temperature, estimated at around 2 degrees Celsius, making it one of the coldest exoplanets imaged to date. The planet is situated 15 times farther from its star than Earth is from the Sun, and it takes over a century to complete one orbit. The atmosphere of Epsilon Indi Ab shows significant amounts of methane, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide, which deviates from previous predictions. The planet's size and atmospheric composition provide new insights into the formation and evolution of gas giants, and the discovery was published in the journal Nature.
The imaging of Epsilon Indi Ab by an international team led by the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy highlights the capabilities of the JWST in studying exoplanets and their atmospheres. The team plans to continue observing the system to gain more detailed information about its atmospheric properties and potential for hosting smaller, rocky planets. This discovery contributes to the broader understanding of planetary systems and the conditions that might support life beyond our solar system.
