NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope has taken its first test image with its coronagraph. The instrument turned its cameras on in space for the first time on September 22.

The coronagraph was built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It will demonstrate technology that blocks starlight. This will help scientists see planets and dusty disks around nearby stars.

The instrument woke up on September 1. Engineers then checked its digital, electronic, and mechanical systems. They confirmed the fine-guidance system was holding steady before adjusting the focus.

The first image was deliberately simple. The detectors were kept warmer than their final temperature, so the image had noise. A second observation on September 27, with cooled detectors, confirmed the pointing was right.

“This observation confirms that the instrument can produce a focused image,” said JPL scientist Vanessa Bailey. She called it a limited test that starts a long series of tasks.

The guidance is precise enough to hold a laser on a dime from 150 miles away.