"Might just be the most extraordinary image you have ever seen."
Thursday, January 9, 2014 at 09:29PM
"Although it might not seem like much, the photo above might just be the most extraordinary image you have ever seen. Not because of crazy high megapixel count or amazing composition or even subject matter — we’ve seen images of planets orbiting stars before — but because it is the first ever image of a planet and its star over 63 light years away."
Behold the First Ever Image of a Planet and Its Star Over 63 Light Years Away
"Acquired by the world's most powerful planet-hunting instrument, the Gemini Planet Imager, it shows a 10-million-year-old planet called Beta Pictorus orbiting its giant parent star. It's the first such image to come from Gemini, which has been under development for over a decade but is only now producing data like this."
Gemini's First Image Shows a Planet Orbiting a Star 63 Light Years Away