NASA/PUNCH
NASA’s new mission «Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere» (PUNCH), which includes 4 small spacecraft in low Earth orbit, has made the first photos of the Sun and the Moon.
The goal of PUNCH is to study the solar wind — the flow of charged solar particles, as well as the causes of space weather phenomena. Satellites photographing the solar corona and the space between the parent star and the Earth by measuring the polarization of light, i.e. the direction in which light continues to travel after it is scattered by particles.
In preparation for the scientific missions, PUNCH is currently testing and adjusting its instruments. With the NFI device, the bright light of the Sun is blocked to better see the details of the solar corona. The NFI device captured the Moon passing by the Sun.
The Moon is illuminated by light reflected from the Earth. The images obtained during the mission’s science operations will be subjected to additional processing to remove stray light and some minor distortions
Photos from the PUNCH mission will help scientists in the study of solar wind. It is noted that every second the Sun ejects 272 thousand metric tons of matter into space, which is traveling at a speed of 1.6 million km/h. The solar wind provokes geomagnetic storms, which can pose a threat to the operation of satellites, as well as ground-based power grids and radio communications. The researchers plan to map the regions associated with the highest solar activity.
In combination with the Parker Solar Probe solar telescope, PUNCH should help scientists gain a much deeper understanding of the processes that control solar wind flows to protect the Earth from geomagnetic storms.
«PSP takes space physics techniques (in situ sampling) inward to touch and measure the solar corona. PUNCH extends solar physics techniques (scientific imaging) outward to measure how the solar corona affects us. The two missions are a perfect complement to each other», — said PUNCH Principal Investigator Craig DeForest.
PUNCH is due to launch on June 9 and will begin continuously collecting new images of the Sun and the region around it. The mission’s instruments also sent back photos of scattered sunlight.
The PUNCH mission also has three wide-angle WFI cameras, which are designed to observe the very dim, outer part of the Sun’s corona. The WFI-1 and WFI-3 instruments also captured the glow of zodiacal light, when the Hyades and Pleiades star clusters and the Andromeda galaxy were visible.
Source: LiveScience