Discovery of a colossal planet: JWST reveals cosmic giant

Mere 12 light-years from our planet, the powerful James Webb Space Telescope revealed the presence of a massive planet with a mass six times that of Jupiter. The gigantic globe is exceptionally bright and cold.

This extraordinary world is characterized by exceptional brightness coupled with low temperatures. Close to us at just 12 light-years away, the James Webb Space Telescope has inspired scientists with hope, providing images of a planet whose mass significantly exceeds Jupiter's. This remarkable world combines polar features: brightness with cold.

As experts from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg reported, the JWST made a significant discovery. The object orbits around a star categorized as an orange dwarf. This star was suspected of having a giant planet in its system but, until now, lacked strong evidence. JWST provided it, presenting images of this planetary giant.

Epsilon Indi A turned out to be a cosmic monster, with a mass six times that of Jupiter – towering over all other known bodies in our Solar System. Furthermore, its brightness does not correspond with high temperatures; despite its immense size, it is relatively calm, maintaining a temperature of about 2 degrees Celsius. The distance separating it from its star is 2.2 billion kilometres, which is 15 times greater than the distance from Earth to the Sun, and one complete orbit around it spans several decades.

Observations suggest that this world might be the only giant in the entire star system. The detailed results of these observations were published in the journal "Nature".