In a First, Astronomers Report Viewing Planets of Other Suns - washingtonpost.com.
Seeing an extrasolar planet directly was one of the last and most speculative goals of the Hubble Space Telescope when it was put in orbit in 1990, said Edward J. Weiler, associate administrator of NASA's science mission directorate, after a news conference yesterday at the agency's headquarters. "I actually never thought it would happen," Weiler said. "This is kind of the last crumb on the plate of promises."
If the new claims, being published today in the journal Science, hold up to what is certain to be feverish scrutiny, they will represent significant progress in the census of planets in our galaxy. More than 300 extrasolar planets have been found in the past decade or so, but they have been detected indirectly through changes in starlight. Astronomers can tell they are there but have not been able to see them directly as distinct objects.
Comment -- The next step is to try and image Earth-like planets. That will probably have to wait until we get a new space telescope in orbit.
It is pretty astounding how much progress has been made in astronomy in my lifetime. When I was a kid, we didn't even know that Mars had craters! Now, we're close to taking pictures of planets like ours in other star systems. Maybe we'll see Little Green Men smiling and waving back at us (or, licking their chops and waving knives and forks at us..shudder.)
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