have been. Up until the year 2010, telescopes could only directly image exoplanets under exceptional circumstances. Specifically, it is easier to obtain images when the planet is especially large (considerably larger than Jupiter), widely separated from its parent star, and hot so that it emits intense infrared radiation. However, in 2010 a team from NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory demonstrated that a vector vortex coronagraph could enable small telescopes to directly image planets. They did this by imaging the previously imaged HR 8799 planets using just a portion of the Hale Telescope. See also List of solar telescopes New Worlds Mission – A proposed external coronagraph References External links Overview of Technologies for Direct Optical Imaging of Exoplanets, Marie Levine, Rémi Soummer, 2009 "Sun Gazer's Telescope." Popular Mechanics, February 1952, pp. 140–141. Cut-away drawing of first Coronagraph type used in 1952. Optical Vectorial Vortex Coronagraphs using Liquid Crystal Polymers: theory, manufacturing and laboratory demonstration Optics Infobase The Vector Vortex Coronagraph: Laboratory Results and First Light at Palomar Observatory IopScience Annular Groove Phase Mask Coronagraph IopScience This link shows an HST image of a dust disk surrounding a bright star with the star hidden by the coronagraph. Optical telescope components Optical devices