Observations with the space telescope James Webb led scientists to the discovery of a giant exoplanet, a “super Jupiter” orbiting a nearby star about 3.5 billion years old. The discovery was published in the journal Nature.

The planet, named Epsilon Indi Ab, is impressively bright and is the coldest exoplanet compared to any other planet imaged beyond our Solar System. Its mass is more than six times that of Jupiter and it is about 12 light years from Earth. The data suggests that this is probably the only giant planet in its system.

“This discovery is exciting because the planet is quite similar to For. It is slightly hotter and more massive, but it is more Jupiter-like than any other planet imaged so far,” notes the study’s lead author. Elizabeth Matthews from Max Planck Institute for Astronomy.

Previous studies had spotted the planet, but its existence was not confirmed until the James Webb Telescope imaged it. Only a few dozen exoplanets have been directly imaged by space and ground-based telescopes in the past. Previously imaged exoplanets tend to be younger and hotter. As planets cool and contract over their lifetimes they become significantly fainter and therefore more difficult to image.

Epsilon Indi Ab is the twelfth closest to Earth exoplanet known to date and the closest one with a mass greater than Jupiter.