NASA Roman Space Telescope Coronagraph Captures First Starlight in Orbit

NASA reports that the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope captured “first starlight” in orbit using an active coronagraph—an on-orbit test that no observatory had previously completed. One month after leaving Earth, Roman recorded a first observation through its deformable mirror system on September 22, then followed with a sharper second image on September 27. The demonstration provides early evidence for wavefront technology central to future exoplanet direct imaging. The Habitable Worlds Observatory, planned for the 2040s, relies on what Roman’s coronagraph performs—or fails to prove—over coming months. NASA’s September 30, 2026 blog post also confirmed fine-guidance system testing from September 15 to 21. Engineers verified extreme pointing stability by tracking “guide stars” through Roman’s Wide Field Instrument detectors, sending corrections about four times per second. NASA says stability reached better than 1/100,000 of a degree over set intervals, supporting science operations.