Science1 hOctober 1, 2026, 01:50

Roman Space Telescope Coronagraph Captures First Starlight in Orbit

A month after launch, NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope became the first observatory to use an active coronagraph with deformable mirrors in space, capturing first starlight on September 22 and a sharper image on September 27. Its fine-guidance system holds pointing stable to better than 1/100,000 of a degree, a key step toward direct imaging of exoplanets.

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Roman Space Telescope Coronagraph Captures First Starlight in Orbit

First coronagraph images taken September 22 and 27, 2026
Pointing stability better than 1/100,000 degree for up to 8 hours
Two 5-cm deformable mirrors with over 2,000 actuators each
Target contrast of 10⁻⁸, 2–3 orders better than prior coronagraphs

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