Free Astronomy Magazine September-October 2024

46 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2024 ASTRO PUBLISHING has directly imaged an exoplanet roughly 12 light-years from Earth. The planet, Epsilon Indi Ab, is one of the coldest exoplanets observed to date. The planet is several times the mass of Jupiter and orbits the K-type star Epsilon Indi A (Eps Ind A), which is around the age of our Sun, but slightly cooler. The team observed Epsilon Indi Ab using the corona- graph on Webb’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument). Only a few tens of ex- oplanets have been directly imaged previously by space- and ground- based observatories. Webb images cold exoplanet 12 light-years away by NASA/ESA/CSA Bethany Downer Christine Pulliam A n international team of astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope