Epsilon Indi is an orange star in the southern constellation Indus, orbited by a giant planet and, far out, by a pair of brown dwarfs.
At a glance
| type | orange star (class K) |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 11.8 light-years (3.62 pc) |
| its light left it | 11.8 years ago |
| luminosity | 0.22 × the Sun |
| radius | 0.73 × the Sun |
| surface temperature | 4,630 K |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Epsilon Indi
Epsilon Indi is an orange dwarf, smaller and cooler than the Sun and visible to the naked eye from southern skies. It moves quickly across the sky, as nearby stars do, and it is one of the closest stars of its type, which makes it a natural place to look for worlds around a star not too different from our own.
It has unusual company. Far from the star orbits a pair of brown dwarfs, Epsilon Indi Ba and Bb, objects too small to sustain hydrogen fusion; they were among the nearest brown dwarfs known when found and have become benchmarks for studying such objects. Closer in orbits a giant planet, Epsilon Indi Ab, first inferred from the star’s wobble and later imaged directly in infrared by the James Webb Space Telescope, a cold world among the oldest and coolest planets ever photographed.
What you see in the piece
Fly to it and you find an orange disc, warmer in tone than the Sun, with the giant planet Epsilon Indi Ab on its orbit. In HUMAN EYE it is a modest star in Indus, visible from the south.
Questions
Does Epsilon Indi have planets?
Yes. A giant planet, Epsilon Indi Ab, has been imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope, and a pair of brown dwarfs orbits much further out. The star is 11.8 light-years (3.62 pc) away.