NASA (Exoplanet Catalog artwork)Epsilon Indi Ab
The nearest directly imaged exoplanet: a cold Jupiter around a Sun-like star 12 light-years away
Overview
Epsilon Indi Ab is a gas giant exoplanet orbiting the star Epsilon Indi A, about 11.9 light-years away in the constellation of Indus. The planet was confirmed to exist in 2018. It orbits at around 30 AU with a period of around 180 years and a relatively high eccentricity of 0.4, and has a mass around seven times that of Jupiter. It was directly imaged using the James Webb Space Telescope in 2023 and the image was released on 24 July 2024.
Source: Wikipedia
NASA: Epsilon Indi A b is a gas giant exoplanet that orbits a K-type star. Its mass is 6.5 Jupiters, it takes 69.7 years to complete one orbit of its star, and is 15.76 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2019.
Why it matters
- JWST imaged it in 2024; it is one of the coldest and oldest exoplanets ever photographed.
- About six Jupiter masses, orbiting at tens of AU — a true Jupiter analogue.
- Its spectrum suggests a metal-rich atmosphere with a high carbon-to-oxygen ratio.
NASA puts it this way: “Epsilon Indi A b is a gas giant exoplanet that orbits a K-type star. Its mass is 3.25 Jupiters, it takes 45.2 years to complete one orbit of its star, and is 11.55 AU from its star. Its discovery was announced in 2019.”
Discovery & system
- Discovered
- 2019 · Radial Velocity · La Silla Observatory
- Discovery paper
- Feng et al. 2019
- Host star
- eps Ind A · K5 V · 4,700 K · 0.8 M☉
- System
- 1 known planet, 3 stars
The system
| World | Period | Distance | Radius | Mass | Temp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| eps Ind A b | 69.7 yr | 15.76 AU | 1.13 R♃ | 6.5 M♃ | 275 K |
By the numbers
- Radius
- 1.13 R♃12.7 R⊕
- Mass
- 6.5 M♃2,066 M⊕
- Orbital period
- 69.7 yr
- Distance from star
- 15.76 AU2,358 million km
- Eccentricity
- 0.25elliptical
- Equilibrium temp.
- 275 K2 °C
- Starlight received
- 0 × Earth
- Distance from Earth
- 11.9 ly3.6 pc
- Density
- 5.54 g/cm³1.01 × Earth
Sources
Image: NASA (Exoplanet Catalog artwork) · NASA media: generally free of copyright · image page
Text: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Taglines and highlights are editorial.