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A cool gas giant orbiting an orange dwarf star with a mass about six times that of our solar system's Jupiter (artistic illustration).

Image source: Nature website

Nature reported on the 24th that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observed a super Jupiter-like giant exoplanet orbiting a nearby solar-type star with a history of about 3.5 billion years. This "super fat" planet is more than 6 times the mass of the "giant" planet Jupiter.

The star, called Epsilon Indi A, is a main sequence star (fueled by hydrogen), an orange dwarf that burns slightly cooler than the Sun (a G-type yellow dwarf). Previous analyses of the star have suggested that it may have a giant planet, but direct observational data have been lacking.

This time, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany reported that JWST has directly imaged a planet, providing new details for understanding the characteristics of the system.

In the JWST image, only a single point of light can be seen. However, preliminary analysis shows that this gaseous planet has very similar properties to Jupiter. Jupiter is known as the "king of planets" in the solar system. It is a giant planet with a mass one thousandth of that of the sun, but 2.5 times the mass of the other planets in the solar system combined.

The planet observed this time is very bright, but relatively cold, with a temperature of about 275K (less than 2°C) and a mass more than 6 times that of Jupiter.

According to predictions, it is currently about 15 astronomical units (au) from Earth, with an orbital period of at least several decades. The properties of this planet are different from the previously predicted "Planet B", so the research team named this new planet Eps Ind Ab. Data show that this may be the only giant planet in the galaxy. (Reporter Zhang Mengran)