coronagraph

noun

co·​ro·​na·​graph kə-ˈrō-nə-ˌgraf 

variants or less commonly coronograph

plural coronagraphs also coronographs

: a telescope for observation of a star's corona

The American spacecraft was to carry the solar coronagraph, the only instrument on the mission capable of imaging the sun's polar regions …

—M. Mitchell Waldrop

Using an instrument called a coronagraph, the astronomers can block a star's light, to catch the dim glow of dark matter that may surround it.

—Jonathan Weiner

Examples of coronagraph in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

That isn't possible for coronagraphs stationed farther away in space, such as SOHO at the L1 Lagrange point, because the moon would never pass through their field of view. —Daisy Dobrijevic, Space.com, 24 Sep. 2025

The breakthrough came when astronomers used a coronagraph — a disk to block the bright starlight — from Alpha Centauri A, revealing a faint object around it. —Jamie Carter, Forbes.com, 9 Aug. 2025

By observing this other star centered on and blocked by the coronagraph and then off-center and unmasked, the researchers were able to model how its light flowed through JWST’s optics. —Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 7 Aug. 2025

Scientists created an attachment for the JWST called a coronagraph. —Stephanie Edwards, Discover Magazine, 25 June 2025

Word History

Etymology

corona + -graph

First Known Use

1884, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for coronagraph

• chromatograph
• mimeograph
• oscillograph
• subparagraph
• autograph
• biograph
• cenotaph
• chronograph
• epigraph
• epitaph
• hodograph
• holograph