📊 Solar storms get a tighter ETA

Using NASA PUNCH images, scientists cut the arrival error for one solar eruption to 30 minutes instead of 5 hours. The mission uses 4 microsatellites, launched in March 2025, to watch the Sun around the clock.

For the 31 May 2025 coronal mass ejection, scientists fed the images into a computer model. After the first 12 hours of observations, it said the storm would hit in 8 hours, and missed by half an hour.

Before PUNCH, instruments saw only one fifth of the path to Earth. Now the whole route is visible, with images updated every 4 minutes, which gives operators more time before radio blackouts, grid trouble, satellite issues and internet disruptions.

📊@tech