Hubble Directly Images a Planet around another Star!

As I discussed on this radio show, all of the extrasolar planets (planets orbiting stars other than the Sun) we know of have been discovered indirectly. They weren't discovered by seeing the light they emit, but by either their gravitational effect on their central star or the gas and dust disk in which they were formed or by passing between the Earth and their host star - blocking some of the light. However, for the first time ever, Hubble has directly imaged an extrasolar planet! Go here and here for more information. This really is big.

This has long been a goal of people who study extrasolar planets (listen to this interview with Dr. Jennifer Wiseman of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center) and it is pretty amazing it has finally been achieved.