Look at this coronagraph!   Our newest space telescope, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, will launch equipped with tools to help it study the cosmos. The silver wedge in the cage-like instrument carrier is a tool that will help Roman spot and study exoplanets orbiting nearby stars—it’s called the Coronagraph.   The Coronagraph works by blocking the glare of the stars Roman sees. Like how you might block the Sun with your hand when trying to see a bird, plane, or anything else in the sky, Roman can more easily detect exoplanets when obscuring the blinding glint of their host stars.   Coronagraphs aren’t new technology—scientists have used them to study our Sun for almost 100 years. But Roman’s Coronagraph is equipped with complex engineering to help it perform better than any other coronagraph that has ever flown in space.   Credit: NASA   #NASA #Roman #Universe