How Webb's coronagraphs reveal exoplanets in the infrared

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has many different observing modes to study planets orbiting other stars, known as exoplanets. One way in particular is that Webb can directly detect some of these planets. Directly detecting planets around other stars is no easy feat. Even the nearest stars are still so far away that their planets appear to be separated by a fraction of the width of a human hair held at arm's length. At these tiny angular scales, the planet's faint light is lost in the glare of its host star when trying to observe it.