Public Science Lecture:
Imaging Almost Nothing At All … with the PUNCH Space Mission of NASA
Speaker:
Dr. Craig Edward De Forest
Principal Investigator, NASA’s PUNCH Space Mission.
Director, Department of Solar and Heliospheric Physics, Southwest Research Institute Boulder, Colorado, USA.
Date: 15th October 2025, 5.30 PM
Venue: Christ University Nodal Office, All India Radio Road, Vazhuthacaud, Thiruvananthapuram
For registration (free): https://forms.gle/QxxDyEYahWGdavHx5
Abstract:
The space between planets is not empty. Every second, the Sun hurls 300,000 tonnes of material outward into space at hypervelocity speeds of up to 15 lakh kilometers per hour. This “solar wind” washes over everything in the solar system, including Earth. Disturbances in the solar wind produce “space weather” here at Earth, and affect our lives as we have become dependent on technology. The solar wind is very close to nothing at all. In every millilitre of interplanetary space near Earth there are perhaps 10 atoms, compared to over 100 shankh (one lakh crore crore) molecules in the same volume of the air in Trivananthapuram. PUNCH is a space mission to image this very tenuous material in three dimensions, using the very faint glimmer of sunlight reflected by electrons contained in it. Four satellites circle the Earth, collecting polarized images of the entire inner solar system every four minutes and beaming their data back to Earth every day. I’ll discuss our amazing environment near an active star, and how PUNCH helps us study this huge (but hidden) part of where we live.
Organised by:
Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram.
Christ University Nodal Office, Thiruvananthapuram.
Breakthrough Science Society, Thiruvananthapuram Chapter.
Contact: 8547883586, 7019522872, 9387224226