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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.15131 |
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| _version_ | 1866914287041118208 |
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| author | DeForest, Craig E. Gibson, Sarah E. Killough, Ronnie Waltham, Nick R. Beasley, Matt N. Colaninno, Robin C. Laurent, Glenn T. Seaton, Daniel B. Hughes, J. Marcus Guhathakurta, Madhulika Viall, Nicholeen M. Attie, Raphael Banerjee, Dipankar Barnard, Luke Biesecker, Doug A. Bisi, Mario M. Bothmer, Volker Brody, Antonina Burkepile, Joan Cairns, Iver H. Campbell, Jennifer L. Case, Traci Caspi, Amir Cheney, David Chhiber, Rohit Clapp, Matthew J. Cranmer, Steven R. Davies, Jackie A. de Koning, Curt A. Desai, Mihir I. Elliott, Heather A. Farid, Samaiyah Gallardo-Lacourt, Bea Gilly, Chris Gobat, Caden Hanson, Mary H. Harrison, Richard A. Hassler, Donald M. Henley, Chase Henry, Alan M. Howard, Russell A. Jackson, Bernard V. Jones, Samuel Kolinski, Don Lamb, Derek A. Lehtinen, Florine Lowder, Chris Malanushenko, Anna Matthaeus, William H. McComas, David J. McGee, Jacob Morgan, Huw Oberoi, Divya Odstrcil, Dusan Parmenter, Chris Patel, Ritesh Pecora, Francesco Persyn, Steve Pizzo, Victor J. Plunkett, Simon P. Provornikova, Elena Raouafi, Nour Eddine Redfern, Jillian A. Rouillard, Alexis P. Smith, Kelly D. Smith, Keith B. Talpas, Zachary S. Tappin, S. James Thernisien, Arnaud Thompson, Barbara J. Van Kooten, Samuel Walsh, Kevin J. Webb, David F. Wells, William L. West, Matthew J. Wiens, Zachary Yang, Yan |
| author_facet | DeForest, Craig E. Gibson, Sarah E. Killough, Ronnie Waltham, Nick R. Beasley, Matt N. Colaninno, Robin C. Laurent, Glenn T. Seaton, Daniel B. Hughes, J. Marcus Guhathakurta, Madhulika Viall, Nicholeen M. Attie, Raphael Banerjee, Dipankar Barnard, Luke Biesecker, Doug A. Bisi, Mario M. Bothmer, Volker Brody, Antonina Burkepile, Joan Cairns, Iver H. Campbell, Jennifer L. Case, Traci Caspi, Amir Cheney, David Chhiber, Rohit Clapp, Matthew J. Cranmer, Steven R. Davies, Jackie A. de Koning, Curt A. Desai, Mihir I. Elliott, Heather A. Farid, Samaiyah Gallardo-Lacourt, Bea Gilly, Chris Gobat, Caden Hanson, Mary H. Harrison, Richard A. Hassler, Donald M. Henley, Chase Henry, Alan M. Howard, Russell A. Jackson, Bernard V. Jones, Samuel Kolinski, Don Lamb, Derek A. Lehtinen, Florine Lowder, Chris Malanushenko, Anna Matthaeus, William H. McComas, David J. McGee, Jacob Morgan, Huw Oberoi, Divya Odstrcil, Dusan Parmenter, Chris Patel, Ritesh Pecora, Francesco Persyn, Steve Pizzo, Victor J. Plunkett, Simon P. Provornikova, Elena Raouafi, Nour Eddine Redfern, Jillian A. Rouillard, Alexis P. Smith, Kelly D. Smith, Keith B. Talpas, Zachary S. Tappin, S. James Thernisien, Arnaud Thompson, Barbara J. Van Kooten, Samuel Walsh, Kevin J. Webb, David F. Wells, William L. West, Matthew J. Wiens, Zachary Yang, Yan |
| contents | The Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission is a NASA Small Explorer to determine the cross-scale processes that unify the solar corona and heliosphere. PUNCH has two science objectives: (1) understand how coronal structures become the ambient solar wind, and (2) understand the dynamic evolution of transient structures, such as coronal mass ejections, in the young solar wind. To address these objectives, PUNCH uses a constellation of four small spacecraft in Sun-synchronous low Earth orbit, to collect linearly polarized images of the K corona and young solar wind. The four spacecraft each carry one visible-light imager in a 1+3 configuration: a single Narrow Field Imager solar coronagraph captures images of the outer corona at all position angles, and at solar elongations from 1.5 degrees (6 R$_\odot$) to 8 degrees (32 R$_\odot$); and three separate Wide Field Imager heliospheric imagers together capture views of the entire inner solar system, at solar elongations from 3 degrees (12 R$_\odot$) to 45 degrees (180 R$_\odot$) from the Sun. PUNCH images include linear-polarization data, to enable inferring the three-dimensional structure of visible features without stereoscopy. The instruments are matched in wavelength passband, support overlapping instantaneous fields of view, and are operated synchronously, to act as a single ``virtual instrument'' with a 90 degree wide field of view, centered on the Sun. PUNCH launched in March of 2025 and began science operations in June of 2025. PUNCH has an open data policy with no proprietary period, and PUNCH Science Team Meetings are open to all. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_15131 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) DeForest, Craig E. Gibson, Sarah E. Killough, Ronnie Waltham, Nick R. Beasley, Matt N. Colaninno, Robin C. Laurent, Glenn T. Seaton, Daniel B. Hughes, J. Marcus Guhathakurta, Madhulika Viall, Nicholeen M. Attie, Raphael Banerjee, Dipankar Barnard, Luke Biesecker, Doug A. Bisi, Mario M. Bothmer, Volker Brody, Antonina Burkepile, Joan Cairns, Iver H. Campbell, Jennifer L. Case, Traci Caspi, Amir Cheney, David Chhiber, Rohit Clapp, Matthew J. Cranmer, Steven R. Davies, Jackie A. de Koning, Curt A. Desai, Mihir I. Elliott, Heather A. Farid, Samaiyah Gallardo-Lacourt, Bea Gilly, Chris Gobat, Caden Hanson, Mary H. Harrison, Richard A. Hassler, Donald M. Henley, Chase Henry, Alan M. Howard, Russell A. Jackson, Bernard V. Jones, Samuel Kolinski, Don Lamb, Derek A. Lehtinen, Florine Lowder, Chris Malanushenko, Anna Matthaeus, William H. McComas, David J. McGee, Jacob Morgan, Huw Oberoi, Divya Odstrcil, Dusan Parmenter, Chris Patel, Ritesh Pecora, Francesco Persyn, Steve Pizzo, Victor J. Plunkett, Simon P. Provornikova, Elena Raouafi, Nour Eddine Redfern, Jillian A. Rouillard, Alexis P. Smith, Kelly D. Smith, Keith B. Talpas, Zachary S. Tappin, S. James Thernisien, Arnaud Thompson, Barbara J. Van Kooten, Samuel Walsh, Kevin J. Webb, David F. Wells, William L. West, Matthew J. Wiens, Zachary Yang, Yan Solar and Stellar Astrophysics Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics The Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission is a NASA Small Explorer to determine the cross-scale processes that unify the solar corona and heliosphere. PUNCH has two science objectives: (1) understand how coronal structures become the ambient solar wind, and (2) understand the dynamic evolution of transient structures, such as coronal mass ejections, in the young solar wind. To address these objectives, PUNCH uses a constellation of four small spacecraft in Sun-synchronous low Earth orbit, to collect linearly polarized images of the K corona and young solar wind. The four spacecraft each carry one visible-light imager in a 1+3 configuration: a single Narrow Field Imager solar coronagraph captures images of the outer corona at all position angles, and at solar elongations from 1.5 degrees (6 R$_\odot$) to 8 degrees (32 R$_\odot$); and three separate Wide Field Imager heliospheric imagers together capture views of the entire inner solar system, at solar elongations from 3 degrees (12 R$_\odot$) to 45 degrees (180 R$_\odot$) from the Sun. PUNCH images include linear-polarization data, to enable inferring the three-dimensional structure of visible features without stereoscopy. The instruments are matched in wavelength passband, support overlapping instantaneous fields of view, and are operated synchronously, to act as a single ``virtual instrument'' with a 90 degree wide field of view, centered on the Sun. PUNCH launched in March of 2025 and began science operations in June of 2025. PUNCH has an open data policy with no proprietary period, and PUNCH Science Team Meetings are open to all. |
| title | Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) |
| topic | Solar and Stellar Astrophysics Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.15131 |