Dr. Craig DeForest ☀️
@craig.deforest.org
Dad, mountaineer, heliophysicist. I lead the PUNCH space mission and direct a team at SwRI. I like science, space, communication, humans, dogs, horses, puns. Lowering barriers and promoting open science are priorities. My personal account; my opinions.
Looks like The Turbulent Sun is available from Amazon and other booksellers now. if you haven't seen it, you should. It's a fabulous piece of scientific storytelling. www.amazon.com/Turbulent-Su...
The Turbulent Sun: A Natural History of Our Cosmic Origins and Future
The Turbulent Sun: A Natural History of Our Cosmic Origins and Future
amazon.com
After 18 months in space, these Teledyne (formerly E2V) #CCD detectores are still working great! When we planned the #PUNCH mission we assumed we'd need to carry out quartic-polynomial calibration of the detectors. But the devices are so linear, we don't. 🛰️🔭🧪
News | Teledyne Space Imaging
Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (NYSE:TDY) is proud to announce that sensors from Teledyne Space Imaging will play a key role in two prestigious NASA explorer missions that are ready to launch in F...
teledynespaceimaging.com
Southwest Research Institute@swri.org · 2w agoLego® toy bricks and heliophysics are a perfect match! Download the plans to build your own wide field imager. The SwRI-developed instrument is currently part of NASA’s Polarimeter to UNify the Heliosphere and Corona (PUNCH) mission. https://ow.ly/Rklh50ZRx4A
I am pretty excited about this movie. The PUNCH data processing really is state-of-the-art. We're on the cusp of a new release of the processed data, and this is part of it. ☀️🔭🛰️🧪
PUNCH mission@punch-mission.bsky.social · 3w agoA Year of the Solar Corona, from PUNCH/NFI We just released a full year of PUNCH/NFI data, showing how the #corona evolved during the first 12 months of PUNCH #science operations! ☀️🔭🛰️🧪🚀 whtwnd.com/punch-missio...
@philplait.bsky.social have you seen Leon Golub's latest ("The Turbulent Sun")? You should. It's good.
The Turbulent Sun: A Natural History of Our Cosmic Origins and Future
The story of the turbulent space around the sun--and the artisans and scientists who revealed its nature, elucidating the origins and fate of the solar system. We often imagine the solar system as a f...
bookshop.org
A final draft is just a rough draft that's stopped complaining.
For 20 years I've carried a Timbuk2 messenger bag daily as a laptop-case/man-purse/carry-on. It's time for a change. This is my new @sfbags.bsky.social Waterfield Air Porter. It's smaller than the T2MB, but almost magically well organized. The design is extremely well thought out.
OK, I watched it. It was every bit as fluffy as I thought, but still a good romp. Not sorry I saw it in the theater. It's no *Roger Rabbit*, but was definitely a good time.
Dr. Craig DeForest ☀️@craig.deforest.org · last mo.Who doesn't love that hopeful, hapless canid? I can't wait to see the new movie tomorrow. A bit of escapist fluff would go down well just about now.
Who doesn't love that hopeful, hapless canid? I can't wait to see the new movie tomorrow. A bit of escapist fluff would go down well just about now.
Here's what I'm listening to right now. Most of us can only dream of leaving such a strong, positive mark on the world. music.apple.com/us/album/the...
The Essential Dolly Parton by Dolly Parton on Apple Music
Album · 2005 · 37 Songs
music.apple.com
I'm pretty thrilled to roll out our system-level complete model of the three #PUNCH WFI spacecraft that monitor the full inner solar system. If you're a fan of LEGO or space (or know one), have a look at this #LEGO #MOC and its tutorial booklet. Now available from @bricklink.bsky.social. ☀️🔭🛰️⚛️🚀🧱
PUNCH/WFI Spacecraft 1:5 model from BrickLink
This is a 1:5 scale model of a real operating "smallsat" spacecraft, part of the PUNCH mission being flown by everyone's favorite space agency (who can't be named here, due to moderation rules). It was designed by members of the actual mission development team, and is part of the PUNCH outreach program. PUNCH stands for "Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere". It is a mission to understand the origins of "space weather", which is a real thing that affects our planet.PUNCH has three "Wide Field Imager" (WFI) spacecraft like this one. The three are in flight right now (as of July 2026) and they photograph our entire inner solar system once every few minutes. The kit is 1157 pieces and includes all major flight subsystems of the spacecraft, showing how they fit together to make a complete working observatory in space. The instruction manual includes 14 pages of notes on the mission, the spacecraft, the individual subsystems, and how they all work together.Recommended for ages 10+, especially young engineers!This version, v1r6, includes some minor adjustments to the previously-approved v1r5: (a) design tweaks from test builds; (b) a note (p. 4) on how the four spacecraft work together.
bricklink.com
Congratulations to @philplait.bsky.social for winning the #AAS Solar Physics Division prize for popular media! (Missed this when it happened -- I just found out at the AAS/SPD business meeting). Article link here: tinyurl.com/plait-award 🧪☀️ & bad-🔭
If you're forecasting the time of space weather events, modeling and extrapolation are good ... but data are better. ☀️🧪🔭🛰️🚀
SwRI-led study demonstrates PUNCH’s potential to improve space weather forecasts | Southwest Research Institute
NASA’s PUNCH mission tracks fast coronal mass ejections, the main source of strong space weather events at Earth
swri.org
@swri.org just posted this fun interview I did a few days ago, talking about the PUNCH mission (@punch-mission.bsky.social). More PUNCH results coming soon! ☀️🛰️🔭⚛️
SwRI-led study shows promise for space weather forecasting with NASA’s PUNCH
YouTube video by Southwest Research Institute
youtube.com
If you use FITS files and have a Mac, check out this cool app from the inimitable @gillyspace27.bsky.social ! You install it and instantly Finder previews FITS files properly. If they're #heliophysics data from a known instrument, you even get the official color scheme. Very cool! ☀️🔭🧪🛰️
HelioFITS App - App Store
Download HelioFITS by CHRISTOPHER RAYMOND GILBERT on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips, and more apps like HelioFITS.
apps.apple.com
As we approach the eclipse in Spain in just three weeks, it's time to re-post this safe solar viewing guide I wrote way back in 2023. Eyepiece projection with binoculars is a simple, fun, safe way to look at the solar disk as totality approaches. ☀️🔭🚀
The most novel part of the PUNCH mission (@punch-mission.bsky.social) is its three WFIs. Deeply baffled, with optics from @televueoptics.bsky.social, they make polarized images of the entire inner solar system every 4 minutes. The Solar Physics article just dropped! Read it here: rdcu.be/fvaSc ☀️🧪🛰️🔭
Spotted this #EV prototype at the top of #PikesPeak on Monday. It's an interesting body design, reminiscent of chopped-top, chunky refits of 1940s classics. Looks like it can't decide whether to be an SUV, a station wagon, or a hatchback.
Definitely! After all, who would call the White House a starter home?
Dave Vetter@davidrvetter.bsky.social · 3mo agoThis might be the most blatant example in existence of "rich guy who created a problem attempting to place the blame for that problem on immigrants"
Comet Pan-STARRS provided a nice reminder that the solar wind is not just a stream of disconnected particles. It is a fluid -- with flows, turbulence, and all the other things that fluids do. ☀️🧪🛰️🔭🚀🪐⚛️
PUNCH mission@punch-mission.bsky.social · 4mo agoWe watched a bright comet's tail break up in the ubiquitous solar wind, turning into vortices like the whirlpools left by an oar stroked through water. But 10x larger than Earth! ☀️🧪🛰️🔭🚀 whtwnd.com/punch-missio...
This probably comes as a shock to nobody, but #unitedairlines has really sucky wifi. 700ms ping , few-percent packet loss, peak speeds well under 1Mbps, several-minute lag on popular websites like this one. #Panasonic is bringing us forward into the 1990s!
☀️🧪🛰️🚀
PUNCH mission@punch-mission.bsky.social · 4mo agoVisualizing the Artemis-Mission CMEs with PUNCH | PUNCH mission | WhiteWind blog How can you visualize/display a CME when you need to see both the lower corona and a huge 90° wide swath of the inner solar system? Nonlinear stretching! ☀️🧪🔭🛰️ whtwnd.com/punch-missio...
Visualizing the Artemis-Mission CMEs with PUNCH | PUNCH mission | WhiteWind blog How can you visualize/display a CME when you need to see both the lower corona and a huge 90° wide swath of the inner solar system? Nonlinear stretching! ☀️🧪🔭🛰️ whtwnd.com/punch-missio...
I'm at this meeting right now. It is phenomenal. Really great overviews of the field Monday morning from both established scientists and early-career geniuses. Excellent job from the SOC and LOC! ☀️🧪🚀
Living Reviews | Solar Physics@livingrev-solphys.bsky.social · 4mo ago#SolarWind17 — The 17th International Solar Wind Conference, 14-19 June 2026, Bath, UK www.solarwind17.com All participants are invited to submit papers for peer review to a #SolarPhysics article collection: link.springer.com/collections/...
Recently had the pleasure of reading Babcock's paper again, describing the first solar "magnetograph" (new word, ehtn) in 1953. The instrument and the paper are things of beauty. Amazing what could be done, and how, using the technology of the 1950s. 🧪☀️⚛️🔭 ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/scan/manifes...
ui.adsabs.harvard.edu
Years ago, I made this map of Boulder Canyon, to prove a point (each side of the 15-mile stretch of road has >35 turnouts, which slow drivers almost never use). It metastasized to include many landmarks. Surprisingly, it still works. #boulder #colorado #google www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/e...
Copy of Boulder Canyon Landmarks & Turnouts - Google My Maps
Map of Boulder Canyon, showing all the turnouts that people never seem to use and many landmarks people refer to.
google.com
I spent #MemorialDay doing stuff around the house. Deployed the summer outdoor furniture, weed-whacked the verge around the house, sliced up a pine that blew over this winter, and brought down (and cut up) 12 aspen corpses. Now I'm pleasantly sore. Not too old (yet) for #home #forestry.
