NASA intends to take an unprecedented 3D observation of the sun this month. In doing so, the agency hopes to understand why its outer atmosphere — the corona — is hotter than its surface, how does the solar wind work, and how the corona transforms into solar wind. As a bonus, the mission will take 3D pictures of a solar eclipse, from space.
The system that will make these things possible is made up of four small satellites that will work together to create 3D pictures of the area closest to the sun’s surface. The system, called PUNCH, (for Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere), will cover a massive amount of space called the heliosphere, the region of the space influenced by the Sun.
"Our heliosphere is this massive, gigantic object that spans so far out from the sun, and PUNCH is going to connect from the closest end ...
