First Photos of Exoplanets
Astronomers may have taken the first direct images of planets orbiting other stars. The infrared photo above was taken by our Gemini North telescope atop Mauna Kea. A trio of planets are shown orbiting star HR 8799. The 2006 Hubble Space Telescope image below shows a ring of debris orbiting Fomalhaut. The planet (inset) has a mass about 3 times that of Jupiter and would orbit the star every 872 years. As we have seen with Saturn's moons, this planet would sculpt the ring edges.