[LibWhacker]

Very close to that mass, isn't it?

What blows me away is its distance. Never expected our first photo of a planet orbiting another star would be of one so far away! Thought it would be of one of our "next door" neighbors.

To your knowledge, is this the first photo that resolves an alien star's disk? If so, I had no idea they could do that either! (Perhaps a little skepticism is in order until this claim is confirmed?)

[jboot]

I couldn't find a cite, but I know they have been routinely imaging alien solar disks for a few years. I recall seeing images of the disks of Betelguese and Antares many years ago. They even imaged a sunspot on Betelguese.

I believe the instrument used was the Keck telescope. Not sure anymore, though.