At the 246th American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, the first detailed images from NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission were unveiled by principal investigator Craig Deforest. Although the satellites are not yet in their final formation, the preliminary images already captured coronal mass ejections (CMEs) as they evolved across the inner solar system and impacted Earth.
As NASA explained in a June 10 press release, the PUNCH instruments were able to capture CMEs “in much greater detail than previously possible.” Beyond their enhanced resolution, the images also allow scientists to “view the corona and solar wind as a single system,” said DeForest. This integrated perspective provides a clearer understanding of potentially disruptive solar events, enabling scientists to predict space weather with greater accuracy.
How PUNCH captured the images
PUNCH’s unique imaging capability comes from its four small, suitcase-sized spacecraft working together as what NASA calls a single “virtual instrument,” spanning approximately 8,000 miles. PUNCH’s cameras as more sensitive and their field of view broader than earlier pathfinder instruments. These “unprecedented” images “will help to close a 60-year gap in measurement and understanding of what occurs in this region of space,” according to the PUNCH mission website.
Caption: NASA’s PUNCH mission, led by SwRI, used its Narrow Field Imager to collect images of solar activity. By blocking the Sun’s bright face, NFI captures the Sun’s atmosphere in unprecedented detail. The June 3 CME shown at the top of the image grew to an enormous size, 100 times that of the Sun, as it traveled across the solar system. Credit: Courtesy of SwRI
The imaging system consists of two complementary components. Three of the spacecraft carry Wide Field Imagers (WFIs) developed by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). These specialized cameras observe the corona and the solar wind — a constant stream of particles that flow across the solar system, blasting planets and other bodies with particles and radiation. The fourth spacecraft houses the Narrow Field Imager (NFI), a coronagraph that blocks the Sun’s bright face, allowing scientists to examine intricate details of the solar atmosphere — the directly observable outer part of the Sun.
While the WFIs provide the expansive view necessary to track CMEs across space, the Narrow Field Imager (NFI) delivers detail of the CMEs’ initial formation and structure as they depart from the Sun. Stitching the images together into a video reveals how the CMEs evolve as they cross the inner solar system.
PUNCH mission overview
Launched into polar orbit on March 11, 2025, PUNCH’s primary objective is to make global, continuous, three-dimensional observations of the Sun’s outer atmosphere and the inner solar system over its planned two-year mission. This approach enables scientists to understand the transition of material from the solar atmosphere into the solar wind.
By tracking the formation and evolution of potentially disruptive solar events like solar flares and CMEs, PUNCH provides data for developing more accurate space weather predictions. These predictions are vital for protecting satellites, communications systems, and explorers in space.
SwRI leads the mission and operates the four spacecraft from its facilities in Boulder, Colorado. The management structure includes NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, with oversight from NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at headquarters in Washington.
The future of PUNCH
“These first images are astonishing, but the best is still yet to come,” said DeForest. As the spacecraft complete their final formation over the next few months, scientists anticipate even more groundbreaking discoveries. “We’ll be able to routinely track space weather in 3D across the entire inner solar system,” DeForest stated.
