The James Webb Space Telescope has provided astronomers with a lot of firsts and now it has given us the first direct image of a brand new exoplanet. This is what is now being called Epsilon Ind Ab, the newest exoplanet which can be added to our ever growing list.
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00:00The James Webb Space Telescope has provided astronomers with a lot of firsts and now it
00:08has given us the first direct image of a brand new exoplanet.
00:12This is what is being called Epsilon Ind Ab, the newest exoplanet which can be added to
00:17our ever growing list.
00:18It's what astronomers call a super Jupiter or a gas giant which is very much like the
00:22largest planet in our solar system but bigger.
00:26This is only the 25th exoplanet to ever be directly imaged, orbiting an orange dwarf
00:30just 12 light years away from us.
00:32The new observations indicate the exoplanet is around 3.3 times the mass of Jupiter with
00:37the James Webb Telescope finding that it orbits its host star at around 28 astronomical units
00:43or 28 times the distance of the Earth to the Sun.
00:46For reference, Neptune orbits the Sun at 30 astronomical units.
00:50Researchers previously believed it orbited at just 8.8 astronomical units.
00:54The researchers say this could usher in a new age of direct exoplanet imaging and give
00:59us a better understanding of how gas planets form and evolve.
01:03Astronomers add they believe Epsilon Ind Ab is the coldest exoplanet ever imaged with
01:08an estimated temperature of 35 degrees Fahrenheit.