The Webb Space Telescope has discovered a giant planet with a mass six times that of Jupiter. This planet, orbiting the star Epsilon Indi A, which is part of a three-star system, is 12 light-years from Earth and takes over a century to complete one orbit. The new planet is situated 15 times farther from its star than Earth is from the Sun. Scientists had previously speculated about a large planet in this system but were surprised by its immense size and distant orbit. The planet’s atmosphere is rich in hydrogen, similar to Jupiter’s.

An international team, led by the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, captured images of the planet using a special shading device on the Webb telescope that blocked the star’s light. The planet and its star are estimated to be 3.5 billion years old, younger than our solar system but still ancient. Despite its proximity and visibility to the naked eye in the Southern Hemisphere, the planet is considered uninhabitable due to the absence of a solid surface or liquid water. Scientists suggest that this system might contain small rocky planets. This discovery adds to NASA’s count of 5,690 exoplanets as of mid-July, with ongoing searches for Earth-like planets using advanced space and ground-based telescopes.