A new space observatory, named the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, officially began its mission on August 30. This advanced telescope is equipped with a state-of-the-art tool called a coronagraph, which allows it to directly image planets outside our solar system. A coronagraph is a device that can be attached to a telescope to block out the intense light of a star, making it possible to observe the fainter objects around it. Without such a device, the star's brightness can overwhelm the view of nearby features, making it difficult to detect planets or other celestial bodies. Coronagraphs have been used in various missions, including NASA's PUNCH mission, which launched in 2025 and includes four spacecraft. One of these spacecraft carries a coronagraph that blocks out sunlight to study the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona. The concept of using coronagraphs to study the sun dates back more than 100 years, when astronomers created artificial eclipses to observe the corona. Now, the Roman Space Telescope is taking this technology to a new level with its most advanced coronagraph ever deployed in space. Unlike traditional coronagraphs that simply block starlight, Roman's coronagraph uses patterned disks and specialized filters to create destructive interference with the light of a target star. This technique could help scientists detect "Pale Brown Dots," which are exoplanets that are extremely faint compared to their host stars. The coronagraph is also designed to be "active," meaning it can adjust its mirrors in real-time to maintain clear images of exoplanets. This is made possible by hundreds of tiny pistons embedded in the mirrors, allowing them to change shape and correct for distortions. If successful, this technology could detect exoplanets that are up to 100 million times fainter than their stars. The Roman Space Telescope will not work alone in its search for exoplanets. Its Wide Field Instrument (WFI) will first identify potential planets using two different methods. The first is the transit technique, which has been used by missions like Kepler and TESS. This method detects planets by observing dips in starlight as a planet passes in front of its star from the telescope's perspective. The second technique involves gravitational lensing, where the gravity of a massive object bends and magnifies the light from a more distant star or planet. According to scientists, these methods will allow the Roman Space Telescope to detect a wide range of exoplanets. The gravitational lensing technique is particularly effective at finding Earth-sized planets in the habitable zones of their stars, while the transit method is better suited for detecting planets closer to their stars. With so many stars in the night sky, many of which are known to have planets, the Roman Space Telescope could potentially discover tens of thousands of new exoplanets, expanding our understanding of the universe.