Astronomy:Occulting disk

From HandWiki
Short description: Disk used in telescopes to block a bright object
A debris disk around the star AU Microscopii. The black circle in the center is an occulting disk of a coronagraph.

An occulting disk is a small disk placed centrally in the eyepiece of a telescope or at its focal point, to block the view of a bright object so that fainter objects can be seen more easily.[1][2]

The coronagraph, at its simplest, is an occulting disk in the focal plane of a telescope, or in front of the entrance aperture, that blocks out the image of the solar disk, so that the corona can be seen. Starshade is one designed to fly in formation with a space telescope to image exoplanets.

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