Research Highlights

Schad, Bryans, Fehlmann, Gibson, Harrington, Tarr, Tomczyk, and Yepez compare externally occulted coronagraphic measurements of near-Sun radiance with aerosol-constrained inferences derived from direct-Sun and sky photometry—focusing on the Mauna Loa Observatory, a well-characterized high-altitude site for atmospheric and solar observations. 

Authors D. Afonso Delgado, R. Centeno, R. Casini, and M. Rempel investigate the suitability of the combined spectral windows of Mg II h and k and the Fe II lines around 261 nm as magnetic markers of filament formation. 

Sarah E Gibson, Craig E. DeForest, Curt A. de Koning, Steven R. Cranmer, Yuhong Fan, Huw Morgan, Elena Provornikova, Anna Malanushenko, and David Webb use PUNCH polarization data to analyze individual lines of sight to three-dimensional models of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), allowing consideration of how accurately polarization properties of the transient and quiescent solar wind are diagnosed.

Tianyang Hu, Liying Qian, Nicholas Pedatella, Wenbin Wang, and Quan Gan use a whole atmosphere model, the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model with thermosphere‐ionosphere eXtension (WACCM-X), to investigate the role of upward propagating migrating diurnal and semidiurnal tides on the day-to-day variability in the I-T system. 

HAO first author, Michael Wiltberger, et. al. highlight a community-wide effort to understand how “open science” practices can better support research and forecasting in heliophysics and space weather.

Bryan Yamashiro, Xudong Sun, Ivan Milic, Carlos Quintero Noda, Jiayi Liu, Adur Pastor Yabar, Rebecca Centeno, Milan Gosic, and Kai Yang analyze a raster map of the southern polar region taken by the Hinode Spectro-Polarimeter, utilizing the Stokes Inversion based on Response functions code. The inversions provide height-dependent vector magnetic field maps between optical depths log(tau) = -2 and 0. 

S. Chatterjee and M. Dikpati develop PINNBARDS, a novel Physics-Informed Neural Network (PINN)-Based AR Distribution Simulator, that uses observational toroids and MHD-SWT equations to derive initial state-vector. This framework provides the first plausible method for reconstructing state-vectors for hidden tachocline magnetic structures from surface patterns; this could potentially lead to accurate prediction of flare-producing AR-emergence weeks ahead.

M. Dikpati and P. A. Gilman build a multi-layer MHD shallow-water model to study the thickness and shape of a the solar tachocline allowing them to include characteristics of both the overshoot and the radiative parts of the tachocline. 

Sarah Gibson, et. al. present the two science objectives behind the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission: (1) understand how coronal structures become the ambient solar wind, and (2) understand the dynamic evolution of transient structures, such as coronal mass ejections, in the young solar wind. PUNCH is a NASA Small Explorer launched in March of 2025 and began science operations in June of 2025.