NASA's new planet hunter to directly image worlds orbiting more distant, fainter stars

According to NASA, the space-based observatory will use its Coronagraph Instrument, an advanced coronagraph designed to directly image planets in orbit around other stars by greatly reducing the glare from the host star. It consists of a system of masks, prisms, detectors, and even self-flexing mirrors built to block out the glare from distant stars and reveal the planets in orbit around them.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, one of NASA's most prolific planet hunters which is currently under construction, will directly image older, smaller, cooler and dimmer worlds with detail up to a thousand times better than possible with other observatories.

While current direct imaging efforts are limited to enormous and bright planets -typically super-Jupiters that are less than 100 million years old - astronomers believe that Roman could complement other telescopes’ infrared observations by imaging young giant planets in visible light for the first time.

According to NASA, the space-based observatory will use its Coronagraph Instrument, an advanced coronagraph designed to directly image planets in orbit around other stars by greatly reducing the glare from the host star. It consists of a system of masks, prisms, detectors, and even self-flexing mirrors built to block out the glare from distant stars and reveal the planets in orbit around them.

The Roman Coronagraph will contain several state-of-the-art components such as specially designed coronagraph masks to block the glare from host stars but allow the light from dimmer, orbiting planets to filter through. It will also be equipped with deformable mirrors, which help counteract small imperfections that reduce image quality and counteract effects like temperature changes, which can slightly alter the shape of the optics.

"To image Earth-like planets, we'll need 10,000 times better performance than today’s instruments provide. The Coronagraph Instrument will perform several hundred times better than current instruments, so we will be able to see Jupiter-like planets that are more than 100 million times fainter than their host stars," said Vanessa Bailey, an astronomer at JPL and the instrument technologist for the Roman Coronagraph.

NASA says its Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will provide a vital step toward discovering habitable planets and possibly learning whether we are alone in the universe.

The mission is slated to launch in the mid-2020s.

The planet hunter...Roman will use its Coronagraph Instrument to search for exoplanets that are older, dimmer, colder, and hidden by their star's light! This advantage from space could allow Roman to see Jupiter-like words! https://t.co/6E3MVbKsrB

— Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (@NASARoman) February 25, 2022