Image of an Exoplanet

Gemini cricket! This is the first image of an extra-solar planet taken by the Gemini Planet Imager. It is a 10 million year old planet orbiting the star Beta Pictoris, which is about 63 light years from Earth. Called Beta Pictoris b, the planet is a “super Jupiter” gas giant, several times the mass of Jupiter, and orbits its star at a distance of about 8 AU. But that’s not the point. The point is this is an actual picture of it. An actual picture of planet orbiting another star. Now, it may only be a few fuzzy pixies, but it’s still pretty awesome.