This is the inner solar system as it might appear to alien astronomers. It proves we could one day see surface features like oceans, continents, giant storms, and signs of life on Earth-like exoplanets with powerful future telescopes.

We have taken a few direct images of Jupiter-sized exoplanets, but doing the same for an Earth-scale world would require a space telescope with a mirror hundreds of metres in diameter. James Webb, NASA’s much-delayed next space telescope, is only 6.5 metres wide.

That isn’t stopping some people from getting ready …