Imaging Exoplanets

Astronomers have directly imaged the smallest exoplanet yet.  Smallest, but still not small.  GJ 504b is four times more massive than Jupiter.  It's also farther from its parent star than Pluto is from the Sun.  Such a huge world so far out is still a challenge to explain with current planetary formation models.

The technology to directly image exoplanets using huge ground-based research telescopes is steadily improving.  The big prize, of course, is directly imaging a world similar to Earth orbiting in its star's habitable zone.  That should be possible in a decade or two.