Roman Space Telescope Will Provide Unprecedented Views Of Alien Worlds

Space.com

The Roman Space Telescope's next generation coronagraph instrument will help deliver amazing views of exoplanets. Learn how it works. NASA's Nancy Grace Roman space telescope will send the hunt for exoplanets into warp speed.   Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center  Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Lead Producer Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park): Science Writer Neil Gehrels (NASA/GSFC): Scientist Krystofer Kim (USRA): Lead Animator Claire Andreoli (NASA/GSFC): Lead Public Affairs Officer Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Narrator

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00:00A coronagraph

00:04is a way to see distant planets hidden by the glare of the star they orbit.

00:08The coronagraph reduces the light coming directly from the star

00:12to separate it from the light reflected by the planet.

00:16The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope's coronagraph doesn't block the star's light

00:20with an opaque disk as a simple coronagraph might.

00:24Instead, it uses a combination of disks with complex patterns

00:28and light-blocking stops to create destructive interference with the star's light,

00:32effectively making it disappear while allowing the light from planets

00:36to pass through. A complicating factor is that

00:40the light picks up small distortions as it reflects off the telescope's series of mirrors,

00:44and these distortions can reduce the effectiveness of the destructive

00:48interference. Collecting more light increases the image signal,

00:52but the planets are still hidden under blobs of leftover, distorted starlight.

00:56To remove these blobs, the coronagraph has special

01:00deformable mirrors that can change shape by using hundreds of tiny pistons.

01:04This corrects distortions in the light beam.

01:08As the mirrors deform, the blobs of light slowly begin to disappear,

01:12revealing brighter planets. Further adjustment brings fainter planets

01:16into view. Advanced software processes this data,

01:20further improving the contrast and clarity of the image.

01:24This processing makes objects more than a billion times fainter than the star visible.

01:28As a result, the Roman Space Telescope will provide

01:32the first look at individual planets in star systems that might

01:36be similar to our own.

01:40NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology

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