NASA’s PUNCH Watches a Comet’s Tail React to the Sun

NASA’s PUNCH mission (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) has captured a rare view of Comet Lemmon (C/2025 A6) as it traveled through the inner solar system in late 2025. PUNCH’s wide-field imagers tracked the comet over several weeks, showing how its tail reacts to the solar wind — a continuous stream of charged particles flowing outward from the Sun. During periods of increased solar activity, the comet’s tail can shorten, shift direction, or fade, then reform as conditions change. Originally discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey, Comet Lemmon provided PUNCH with a unique natural probe of the Sun’s dynamic environment. These observations help scientists better understand how solar storms propagate through space and interact with objects moving through the heliosphere. Subscribe for more NASA mission updates, comet science, and clear explanations of what you’re seeing in space. @BeyondEarthBuckleUp Image Credit: NASA/Southwest Research Institute #punch #nasa #CometLemmon #solarwinds #heliosphere #SpaceWeather #CometScience #nasaimages #spaceexploration #beyondearthbuckleup #C2025A6 #comet