Figure credit: Currie et al., Protostars and Planets VII (2023)

Directly Imaged Planets

Directly imaged exoplanets are those which we are able to spatially separate on sky from their host star. As the stars are much brighter than the planets, we generally observe very massive exoplanets which are at large orbital separations from their star in order for us to be able to distinguish their light from that of their star. Whilst a smaller number of directly imaged exoplanets have been observed, they have some of the most exciting potential for the future. It is through direct imaging that we stand the best chance of being able to characterise planets similar to our own, Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars.