[LibWhacker]

Not planets, galaxies. The nearest one is 3.8 billion light years away, while the primary one of interest is a quasar clear across the universe.

Yes, it’s going to be absolutely fascinating to see how much detail they’ll be able to see in something that’s that far away! I’m a believer, but man, the quasar is soooo far away (one source said 17 billion light years), it’s kind of hard to believe they’ll be able to see much more than a bright spot. I’ll be happy just to see the galaxy the quasar is part of.

[jonrick46]

The gravitational lens provided by our sun should magnify planets in solar systems that are light years away. This is what Earth would look like (the right hand image) if it was at the distance of Proxima Centauri (4.24 light years away) when projected by the solar gravitational lens: To position the telescope at the sun's gravitational focal point would mean getting out to about 51 billion miles from Earth. The payoff would be immeasurable with images of continents, oceans and cloud formations on planets light years away!