PUNCH stands for Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere. It focuses on the Sun’s corona and the solar wind as a connected system. The mission uses advanced imaging to capture the solar wind’s behaviour as it moves away from the Sun. This helps scientists understand how solar particles travel through space.

Solar wind is a stream of charged particles released by the Sun. It is invisible to the naked eye and difficult to study. PUNCH makes this invisible visible by capturing detailed images. This allows researchers to track solar wind patterns and predict space weather events more accurately. Such events can disrupt satellites, power grids and communication systems on Earth.

The Sun is currently in a solar maximum phase. This means it has increased sunspots, solar flares and coronal mass ejections. These events release large amounts of energy and particles into space. PUNCH helps monitor these ejections to improve forecasting. Although exact timings of ejections cannot be predicted, their frequency during solar maximum is known.