NASA has unveiled stunning images of Epsilon Indi Ab, an exoplanet classified as one of the coldest ever observed. An international team of astronomers utilized the James Webb Space Telescope’s powerful infrared instruments to capture these images of the exoplanet, which resides approximately 12 light-years from Earth within the constellation of Indus.
Epsilon Indi Ab orbits the K-type star known as Epsilon Indi A, a star comparable in age to our Sun but slightly cooler. The team employed Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) to directly image the exoplanet, revealing its intriguing characteristics. NASA highlights that Epsilon Indi Ab stands out as one of the coldest directly detected exoplanets, registering an extremely frigid temperature of 35 degrees Fahrenheit, or 2 degrees Celsius.
Notably, Epsilon Indi Ab is the closest planet to Earth with a mass exceeding that of Jupiter, and it holds the title of the twelfth closest exoplanet to Earth discovered to date.
