Seeing Exoplanets Like Never Before With the Roman Coronagraph (Instrument Overview)
NASA's upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, a flagship astrophysics mission, will launch with a very special piece of technology on board that will directly observe exoplanets like never before: the Roman Coronagraph Instrument.
The Roman Coronagraph, the most powerful coronagraph ever flown in space, will block the light from host stars, allowing scientists to directly observe exoplanets, or worlds beyond our solar system.
The coronagraph is a technology demonstration that will show how this cutting-edge technology can work in space. These types of technologies will be necessary for future missions like NASA’s proposed Habitable Worlds Observatory mission concept.
For more information about the Roman Coronagraph Instrument, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/coronagraph/
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSFC
Transcript
(Vanessa Bailey)
Is there life out there? Are we alone? One NASA instrument will get us closer to finding answers to some of humanity’s biggest questions.
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will fly with an instrument on board, called a coronagraph, that will allow scientists to see exoplanets, or worlds beyond our solar system, like never before.
(Jason Rhodes)
So a coronagraph is a camera or an instrument that we use to look at planets around other stars.
And the reason we need a special instrument to do this is because stars are so much brighter than planets.
And what we need to do is we need to put something in front of the star to block the light from the star, so that we can instead see the very faint light coming from the planet.
(Vanessa Bailey)
The Roman coronagraph, built at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, will take a giant leap forward in our ability to see worlds beyond our solar system, and we’ll observe larger exoplanets roughly the size of Jupiter.
Testing the technology to see these planets is the stepping stone toward one day capturing direct images of Earth-like planets around sun-like stars.
These technologies include different specially-designed masks and self-flexing mirrors that will work together to block starlight, making planets orbiting these stars observable, testing technologies that could enable future missions like NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory mission concept.
(Jason Rhodes)
And one of the primary goals for the Habitable Worlds Observatory will be to use a coronagraph, using the technology that we demonstrate in the Roman coronagraph to look for signs of life around Earth-like planets orbiting sun-like stars.
If we show that these technologies work together well, we will have demonstrated about a thousand times better performing use of a coronagraph in blocking starlight and allowing planet light to come through than any coronagraph ever built.
(Vanessa Bailey)
As it embarks on its journey to the stars aboard NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the Roman coronagraph instrument will pave the way for future searches for habitable worlds and ultimately, the search for life beyond Earth.