For some time, astronomers have inferred from spectrographic data that there were objects (presumably planets) orbiting far away stars. Visually imaging an extra-solar planet has been impossible, until now.
Using the Keck and Gemini telescopes (located on top of Mauna Kea, Hawaii), astronomers have imaged not one, but three planets in orbit around the star HR8799, 140 light years distant. That such an image could be captured with ground-based telescopes is a tribute to the adaptive optics that can compensate for atmospheric blurring.
Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory had a hand in developing the original adaptive optics used on the Keck telescope.
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