Although it might not seem like much, the photo above might just be the most extraordinary image you have ever seen. Not because of crazy high megapixel count or amazing composition or even subject matter — we’ve seen images of planets orbiting stars before — but because it is the first ever image of a planet and its star over 63 light years away.
The image was taken by the Gemini Planet Imager, an incredibly powerful instrument that sits right here on Earth — in Chile to be exact. Using the magic of Adaptive Optics, they were able to capture this groundbreaking image of the 10-million-year-old planet Beta Pictoris b orbiting the massive star Beta Pictoris.
