Recently, scientists have shared impressive images from Nasa's Punch (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) mission, launched in March 2025 to enhance our knowledge of the Sun's outer atmosphere and its effects on the solar system.

The PUNCH mission comprises four small satellites orbiting in sync, acting as a unified 'virtual instrument' to capture 3D images of solar events.

The latest images display huge solar eruptions, known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), emanating from the Sun and traveling through the inner solar system. One video clip shows a CME expanding like a 'halo' around the Sun, emphasizing the vast scale and power of these solar storms.

The advanced wide-field imagers on the PUNCH satellites enable scientists to monitor these eruptions with exceptional detail, tracing their path from the solar corona to the solar wind that surrounds our solar system.

An important feature of the PUNCH mission is its ability to offer a continuous, global 3D view, crucial for understanding and predicting space weather. The images also display the field of view of LASCO C3, an older coronagraph still utilized for space weather forecasts, aiding scientists in comparing new and existing data.

Towards the end of the sequence, the impact of a CME on Earth becomes visible as a sudden brightening, caused by auroras and radiation effects affecting the PUNCH cameras momentarily.

Dr. Craig DeForest, the principal investigator for PUNCH, mentioned, 'These initial videos demonstrate that PUNCH can monitor space weather throughout the solar system and observe the corona and solar wind as a unified system.'

The data from the mission will assist scientists in better forecasting space weather events, which can disrupt communications, pose risks to satellites, and produce stunning auroras on Earth. With PUNCH moving into full operation, more detailed and comprehensive observations are anticipated in the upcoming months.