NASA PUNCH Mission Reveals Its First Images Of The Sun

Following its launch on 28 February 2025, the NASA PUNCH mission is proud to reveal its first images of the Sun. This is remarkable as it marks the start of the mission, which aims to study the Sun-Earth connection and the impact of solar winds on our planet.

NASA PUNCH Mission Opens Its Eyes For The First Time

The NASA PUNCH mission has taken its first baby steps as it captures its “first light image of the Sun. This first image was taken on 14 April 2025 after the Narrow Field Imager (NFI) and one of the mission’s three Wide Field Imagers (WFI) opened their instrument doors.

Following this opening exercise, the mission was able to take the first picture of the Sun. On 16 April 2025, the other Wide Field Imagers (WFI) opened up their instrument doors, joining the first WFI in capturing images of the Sun.

According to NASA, the first PUNCH mission image shows “star fields with the Sun near the centre of the image.” By filtering the image, the mission was able to emphasise the background star fields, which were hiding behind zodiacal light, a very faint diffuse glow from dust orbiting the Sun.

For now, the instruments still need a bit of tweaking to make them more suitable for capturing clear images of the Sun. As the mission is still in its commissioning phase, scientists responsible for its operation will calibrate the instruments to get better images out of them.

NASA says that this calibration phase will take away about “99% of the light from the corona, enabling scientists to track the faint threads of solar material as they flow outward throughout space.” The first image shows a ton of background light and star fields that prevent the viewing of streams of solar winds emanating from the Sun and making their way towards Earth.

While we wait for the completion of this calibration process, we can rest assured that the mission’s equipment is fully functional. After the commissioning phase is complete, the NASA PUNCH mission will properly kick off its task in space.

Details On The NASA PUNCH Mission

The mission of PUNCH is to make 3D observations of the entire inner heliosphere to learn how the Sun’s corona creates solar wind. It’ll also study the formation of solar weather and how it can affect or endanger spacecraft and astronauts.

This mission consists of three spacecraft, one Narrow Field Imager (NFI) and three Wide Field Imagers (WFI). The NFI concerns itself with blocking out the bright light from the Sun to reveal its corona where solar winds are created.

As for the WFI, it concerns itself with the viewing of the very faint outer sides of the Sun’s corona and solar winds. Together, these systems work to meet the requirements of this mission.