A Mission to Take Sick Images of the Sun Got Its First Test Shots Back

Check out the vibrant first photo from PUNCH, a NASA mission that is hitting the ground running with some neat shots of the Sun. PUNCH—short for the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere—launched into low-Earth orbit last month, and its just taken its first images in what will hopefully be a fruitful period of scientific discovery. PUNCH consists of four satellites orbiting each other in a constellation. The suitcase-sized instruments together comprise one, 8,000-mile-wide (12,900-kilometer-wide) space weather detector. PUNCH is charged with observing how the solar corona gives way to solar wind, the energetically charged particles from the Sun that cause auroras here on Earth. After spending a few weeks getting their gear sorted, all four satellites have now opened their imaging doors. “All four instruments are functioning as designed,” said Craig DeForest, the mission’s principal investigator, in a Southwest Research Institute release. “We’re excited to finish on-orbit c ... Read full article.