'Space rainbow' captured by NASA's newest sun-studying spacecraft

Once fully functional, PUNCH will help scientists monitor and predict space weather, including when the aurora could dance in the night sky.

The largest rainbowlike feature ever observed in the solar system was just captured by a newly launched spacecraft, as NASA scientists work to better understand the sun and forecast space weather.

NASA's PUNCH mission, made up of four Earth-orbiting spacecraft, is focused on studying the sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona.

One of the first images from PUNCH, released earlier this month, appears to show a massive rainbowlike feature in the solar system.

The rainbowlike feature in the image is very different from the rainbows most people are familiar with. On Earth, rainbows form when raindrops refract sunlight like a prism, creating an arc of colors across the sky.

In space, this phenomenon was caused by sunlight reflecting off dust particles in the solar system—a glow known as zodiacal light.

"The image is colorized to show the polarization (or angle) of the zodiacal light, a faint glow from dust orbiting the Sun. Hue indicates direction, and saturation indicates degree of polarization," NASA explained. "For example, a pastel green feature would be slightly polarized in the horizontal direction, while a deep blue feature would be strongly polarized in a diagonal direction."

As mesmerizing as the image looks, it is the first step of the mission to study the sun.

"These early images help the mission team confirm that PUNCH’s cameras are in focus, working properly, and able to capture the quality observations needed to achieve the mission’s goals."

Once fully functional, PUNCH will help scientists monitor and predict space weather, including when the aurora could dance in the night sky.

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