The search for extrasolar planets has led to evidence of over 100 planetary systems around stars similar to the Sun. Most of these discoveries have employed the Doppler method, by which we detect the presence of a planet by the "wobble" its gravity induces on its parent star. For a few other planets, we've observed them transiting the parent star, where the starlight dims due to the planet crossing inbetween us and the star. And today, the Spitzer Space Telescope announced that for these transiting planets, they now have been able to detect their infrared light directly. Woo-hoo!

Dear friend Robert provides the artistic rendition: