This is unprecedented, right? I have been wondering for a while if such a thing is or will be possible. I assumed the distances were simply too great.
I see now that it is possible to directly image gas giants, but not to my knowledge small rocky planets.
Best wayto image rocky planets is in the mid-IR where they are brighter and their parent star is less bright.
Mid-IR detectors weren't very good 30years ago when todays large telescopes were planed and the mid IR telescopes that have been built were based around poor detectors from 30years earlier and so are small.
Of course what you claim a telescope is for and what is the fashionable topic once it's running can be different. That's the nice thing about telescopes compared to say an LHC - decades after they open they are finding new unusual things with new instruments.
