Latest news with #solarwind
Forbes
20-05-2025
- Science
- Forbes
In Photos: See The Stunning ‘Space Rainbows' Captured By NASA
On April 18, 2025, the WFI-2 instrument on NASA's PUNCH spacecraft created this view of the zodiacal ... More light, a faint glow from dust orbiting the sun. There are no rainbows in space, but the next best thing has been snapped by a new NASA spacecraft now orbiting Earth while testing its cameras. The spacecraft, called PUNCH (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere), is about to begin investigating how the sun's outer corona — by far the hottest part of our star's atmosphere — becomes the solar wind that causes the Northern Lights. The PUNCH mission blasted off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on March 11, 2025. Also in the rocket's fairing was NASA's SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) observatory. PUNCH isn't a single spacecraft. It comprises four small satellites that together create a single 'virtual instrument' that spans the whole PUNCH constellation. The aim is to make 3D observations of the sun's corona for at least two years. It's hoped that by doing so, scientists will better be able to figure out how the sun's corona becomes the solar wind and so more accurately predict space weather. That's crucial because solar wind can greatly affect satellites and robotic explorers in space. Captured on April 16, 2025, this is the first image taken by PUNCH's WFI-1 instrument. The ... More instrument's wide field of view reveals the glow of zodiacal light stretching up and to the right. The V shape of the Hyades star cluster appears near the top, with the more compact Pleiades star cluster to the lower right. A rainbow is an optical illusion created by sunlight refracting and being reflected inside droplets of liquid in an atmosphere. That's not going to happen in space. PUNCH's 'space rainbows' are unique images of what astronomers call the zodiacal light, a triangular beam of light that can be seen on the horizon a few hours before sunrise or after sunset as the false dawn or false dusk. PUNCH's stunning polarimetric triplet images are a combination of three images (red, green and blue) of sunlight being reflected by space dust. They were created during imaging tests of three polarizers on PUNCH on April 18, 2025, with the light colorized based on its angle (polarization). For a few weeks in late September and October, a triangular beam of light appears on the eastern horizon a few hours before sunrise before gently fading. This is the "false dawn." In March and April, the opposite happens as a triangular beam of light appears on the western horizon a few hours after sunset — the "false dusk." So-called zodiacal light — literally "light from the circle of animals" — is the glow of the solar system. Reflected sunlight from interplanetary dust around the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter radiates across the (visible) optical spectrum and beyond. Depictions of two kinds of dust in space: At left the pyramid-shaped glow of Zodiacal Light caused ... More by sunlight reflecting off interplanetary dust in the inner solar system from comets and meteoroids, while at right is the band of the bright Milky Way, made of stars in our galaxy. (Photo by: VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) It's called the zodiacal light because it appears above where the sun has just set/is about to rise, so along the ecliptic — the path of the sun through the daytime sky. This is the plane of the solar system, and it's where you'll find the belt of constellations across the night sky that the sun moves through in a calendar year — hence star signs. The 12 'signs' of the zodiac are all officially recognized astronomical constellations: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. There's also a thirteenth, Ophiuchus, a huge constellation that the sun also passes through. Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
BBC News
19-05-2025
- Science
- BBC News
PUNCH mission: Nasa snaps a picture of a rainbow in space
Nasa has released a picture of a rainbow in space!The image was created by putting together photos taken by three instruments from their newly-launched PUNCH mission. It's the first rainbow-coloured view of the sky to be taken by the US space expedition is hoping to reveal new details about how the Sun's corona moves through the solar system as the solar wind. What's happened? PUNCH is the first mission designed to measure the corona and solar wind in 3D, by studying the direction light travels. Last month, a camera on board one of the four satellites which make up PUNCH took three images in succession to create the multi-coloured view. The image shows the faint glow from dust orbiting the Sun. The different colours represent the different strengths and directions of light and the finished picture gives scientists new information on the movement of solar to Nasa, these early images also help the mission team confirm that PUNCH's cameras are working properly. What is Nasa's PUNCH mission? Nasa's Punch mission is made up four small satellites which are in low Earth orbit, observing the Sun and its to the US Space Agency, the plan is for them to make a global 3D picture of the entire inner heliosphere - that's the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun which surrounds the planets and the Kuiper doing this, Nasa hope to find out more about how the Sun's outermost layer of its atmosphere - called the corona - becomes the solar mission was launched in March 2025 and is expected to last around two years.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA spacecraft snaps eerie image of eclipsed sun with an extra moon overhead. Yes — it's real.
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The moon hovers over a shadowy void wreathed in sunlight in a stunning new photo taken by NASA's Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission on April 27. PUNCH is a collection of four small satellites orbiting Earth with their instruments aimed at the sun. Launched on March 11, its goal is to study the solar wind — the stream of charged particles emanating from the sun and the cause of space weather. It will do so by taking pictures of the sun and the space between it and Earth. To prepare for its science operations phase, PUNCH must go through commissioning — a phase of instrument testing and alignment. The image above was taken as part of the commissioning process. The dark, circular shadow is from the "occulter." The occulter is needed to prevent the sun's light from overwhelming the images, just like the moon blocks out the sun during a solar eclipse, revealing the delicate streamers and filaments that stretch from the sun's surface into the corona, the sun's outermost atmosphere. The golden glow surrounding the sun is light reflecting off the occulter, and the dark areas at the top of the image are outside the instrument's field of view. The moon is illuminated by light reflected off Earth. Images collected during the mission's science operations will undergo more processing to remove the stray light and some small distortions left by contamination to reveal detailed images of the sun's corona. Related: The sun just spat out the strongest solar flares of 2025 — and more could be headed toward Earth Photos of the sun's corona can help scientists study the solar wind — the more than 300,000 tons (272,000 metric tons) of material the sun blasts into space every second at a million mph (1.6 million km/h), bathing the entire solar system in a feisty stew of charged particles. The solar wind is responsible for geomagnetic storms that, on Earth, can cause power grid failures and radio blackouts, and disrupt or damage satellites. Understanding the solar wind helps us prepare for geomagnetic storms so life on Earth can continue without disruption. The photos PUNCH will take won't directly show the sun's volatile magnetic field. Instead, they'll show massive, glowing plasma loops and outbursts that are shaped by it. Patterns in the streamers and filaments emanating from the sun help researchers map out regions that are connected to the extreme space weather that causes geomagnetic storms on Earth. When combined with data collected within the sun's corona by the Parker Solar Probe (PSP), PUNCH's science will enable a much deeper understanding of the processes that drive the solar wind. This knowledge, in turn, can help protect the planet from geomagnetic storms. RELATED STORIES —The US isn't prepared for a big solar storm, exercise finds —The sun just spat out the strongest solar flares of 2025 — and more could be headed toward Earth —World's largest solar telescope turns on powerful new camera, revealing breathtaking image of a continent-size sunspot "PSP and PUNCH are both working to unite two separate branches of heliophysics into a unified whole," PUNCH's principal investigator, Craig DeForest, told Live Science in an email. "PSP is carrying the techniques of space physics (in-situ sampling) inward to touch and measure the solar corona. PUNCH is extending the techniques of solar physics (scientific imaging) outward to measure how the solar corona touches us. The two missions complement each other beautifully." PUNCH is scheduled to complete its commissioning phase June 9 and will start collecting new images of the sun and the area around it continuously. The data collected will be available to anyone who wishes to access it as part of PUNCH's commitment to open, inclusive science.
