Coronagraph

Okay kiddo, have you ever looked at the sun and noticed that it's really bright? Well, that brightness can make it hard for scientists to study things that are near the sun, like planets.

That's where a coronagraph comes in. A coronagraph is like special sunglasses for telescopes. It blocks out the super bright light from the sun so that scientists can see the planets and other objects that are close to it.

The way it works is by using a disk or a mask that is put in front of the telescope. This disk or mask is designed to block out the light from the sun's surface, which makes it easier to see the things orbiting near it.

Think of it like putting your hand in front of a bright light to create a shadow. It's the same idea with a coronagraph, but on a much bigger scale.

So scientists use coronagraphs to study things like the sun's corona (that's where it gets its name!), which is the outer layer of the sun's atmosphere that we can't see with our normal telescopes. They also use coronagraphs to study exoplanets, which are planets that orbit stars other than our sun.

So, in short, a coronagraph is a special tool used to block out the bright light from the sun so that we can see things near it more clearly.