Kanpur. An international team of astronomers along with Assistant Professor of IIT Kanpur Dr. Prashant Pathak has discovered a giant planet which is orbiting a bright star like the Sun. Being six times bigger than Jupiter, the new planet Epsilon Ind AB has been included in the 'Super-Jupiter' category.

It is the largest planet known in the solar system so far and is located 28 times farther away than the distance between the Earth and the Sun and completes its orbit around its star in 200 years. This is the first planet discovered outside our solar system with the help of direct imaging technology. The research has been published in the international science journal Nature.

IIT Director Prof. Manindra Agarwal has called this research a milestone in the search for planets outside the solar system. This will lay a strong foundation for other research in the future. He said that this planet has been discovered using the mid-infrared instrument of the James Webb Space Telescope.

It has been named Epsilon Ind AB, also known as HD 209100 or HIP 108870. The star has been named Epsilon Ind A. Scientists have succeeded in taking a direct picture of this exoplanet. The new planet is located 12 light years away from Earth and is very cold with a temperature of minus one degree.
By studying it, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of planetary formation, atmospheric composition, and the possibility of life beyond our solar system. Our next goal is to obtain its spectra, which will provide us with a detailed fingerprint of the planet's climate and chemical composition.