What's a coronagraph? (And what does it have to do with an eclipse?) A coronagraph is an instrument used to block the light of a star so that the planets around it can be more easily seen. It's basically an artificial eclipse – which is exactly where the idea came from! (The “corona” in coronagraph refers to the Sun’s outermost atmosphere, which is visible during a solar eclipse.) The first coronagraph was invented in 1930 by Bernard Lyot to recreate a total solar eclipse at will, and while the

17K views · 215 reactions | Bye, Coronagraph!  NASA's next exoplanet imager recently made a cross-country trip from JPL in Southern California to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. The Roman Coronagraph Instrument will help pave the way in the search for habitable worlds outside our solar system by testing new starlight-blocking tools. | NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory | Facebook