Images of a cold exoplanet 12 light years away from Earth have been captured

Jul 24. () –

An international team of astronomers using the space telescope James Webb NASA/ESA/CSA has obtained direct images of an exoplanet about twelve light years away from Earth.

As explained by the European Space Agency (ESA)), although there were indications that the planet existed, it had not been confirmed until the Webb telescope captured one of the coldest exoplanets observed to date.

The planet, known as Epsilon Indi Ab, has a mass several times that of Jupiter and orbits the K-type star Epsilon Indi A (Eps Ind A), which is about the age of the Sun but slightly cooler.

The team of scientists managed to capture the existence of Epsilon Indi Ab using the coronagraph on Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). Only a few dozen exoplanets have been directly imaged by space and ground-based observatories.

“Our previous observations of this system have been more indirect measurements of the star, which actually allowed us to see early on that there was likely a giant planet in this system tugging on the star.“said Caroline Morley, a team member from the University of Texas at Austin.

“This discovery is exciting because the planet is quite similar to Jupiter: it is slightly hotter and more massive.“but it is more similar to Jupiter than any other planet imaged so far,” said Elisabeth Matthews of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany.

ESA has highlighted that previously imaged exoplanets are typically younger and hotter ones that are still radiating much of the same energy as when they formed. As planets cool and contract over their lifetime, their brightness decreases considerably and they become more difficult to image.

Epsilon Indi Ab is one of the coldest exoplanets ever directly detected, with an estimated temperature of 2 degrees Celsius (6.6 degrees Fahrenheit), cooler than any other imaged planet outside the solar system and cooler than all but one free-floating brown dwarf.

The planet is only about 100 degrees Celsius warmer than the gas giants in the solar system, offering astronomers a unique opportunity to study the atmospheric composition of true solar system analogues.

“Astronomers have been imagining planets in this system for decades; fictional planets orbiting Epsilon Indi have been the setting for Star Trek episodes, novels, and video games like Halo. It’s exciting that we can actually see a planet there and start measuring its properties.“Morley said.