The ε Indi system provides a benchmark case for the study of the formation of gas giants and brown dwarfs.
The 1801 star atlas Uranographia, by German astronomer Johann Elert Bode, places ε Indi as one of the arrows being held in the left hand of the Indian.
[15] In 1847, Heinrich Louis d'Arrest compared the position of this star in several catalogues dating back to 1750, and discovered that it possessed a measureable proper motion.
[16] In 1882–3, the parallax of ε Indi was measured by astronomers David Gill and William L. Elkin at the Cape of Good Hope.
[19] ε Indi leads a list, compiled by Margaret Turnbull and Jill Tarter of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, of 17,129 nearby stars most likely to have planets that could support complex life.
[3] The corona of ε Indi A is similar to the Sun, with an X-ray luminosity of 2×1027 ergs s−1 (2×1020 W) and an estimated coronal temperature of 2×106 K. The stellar wind of this star expands outward, producing a bow shock at a distance of 63 AU.
[26] ε Indi A has a space velocity relative to the Sun of 86 km/s,[4][note 1] which is unusually high for what is considered a young star.
[12] The existence of a planetary companion to Epsilon Indi A was suspected since 2002 based on radial velocity observations.
The detected planet's mass and orbit are different from what was predicted based on radial velocity and astrometry observations.