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

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

Experts in the the Strategic Explorations of Exoplanets and Disks with Subaru (SEEDS) project captured this image, using a special coronagraph imager, which allows cameras to see beyond the brightness of a star. —Kenna Hughes-Castleberry, Space.com, 23 June 2025

Before the use of coronagraphs, telescopes were only able to capture the effects of an exoplanet rather than provide a direct image. —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