What devastating combination of factors primarily hinders the direct observation of distant exoplanets?
Answer
Distance and contrast.
Directly seeing an exoplanet presents an enormous technical challenge due to the overwhelming difference in brightness between the host star and the planet, compounded by the vast interstellar distances involved. Even a massive planet like Jupiter would reflect only a billionth of the brightness of its host star when viewed from a nearby system like Alpha Centauri. This extreme contrast ratio means the star's glare completely washes out the faint reflected light of the planet, making it akin to trying to spot a grain of rice next to a powerful light bulb viewed from far away. This severe hurdle is why astronomers have heavily relied on indirect detection methods that analyze the star's behavior.
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