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

Telescopes on Earth and satellites can use a coronagraph, an instrument that blocks the sun’s disk while leaving much of its atmosphere visible. —Aaron Shattuck, Scientific American, 25 June 2024

But coronagraphs can block important parts of the solar atmosphere near the surface. —Aaron Shattuck, Scientific American, 25 June 2024

The coronagraph will allow scientists to better study the sun’s outer atmosphere, called the corona, where coronal mass ejections can be observed. —Kasha Patel, Washington Post, 25 June 2024

The coronagraph will provide continuous observations of the solar corona, or the hot outer layer of the sun’s atmosphere, which is where space weather events originate, said Elsayed Talaat, director of NOAA’s Office of Space Weather Observations. —Ashley Strickland, CNN, 25 June 2024

Word History

Etymology

corona + -graph

First Known Use

1884, in the meaning defined above