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.
This morning I had the singular pleasure of visiting the Lake Ponchartrain causeway (world's longest over-water causeway, I'm told) and examining it with binoculars. It was a cloudy, blustery day but I can confirm that, yes, the world is round.
December 15, 2025 at 5:24 AM
This morning I had the singular pleasure of visiting the Lake Ponchartrain causeway (world's longest over-water causeway, I'm told) and examining it with binoculars. It was a cloudy, blustery day but I can confirm that, yes, the world is round.
Here's a fun science nugget from @PUNCH-mission.bsky.social: a colorized polarimetric image of the extended solar corona, with bonus dust trails from a micrometeoroid impact! ☀️🛰️🔭
December 3, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Here's a fun science nugget from @PUNCH-mission.bsky.social: a colorized polarimetric image of the extended solar corona, with bonus dust trails from a micrometeoroid impact! ☀️🛰️🔭
"There's something about the outside of a horse that's good for the inside of a man" -- discovering my inner #TeddyRoosevelt. (#horses, #trailriding)
December 1, 2025 at 3:06 AM
"There's something about the outside of a horse that's good for the inside of a man" -- discovering my inner #TeddyRoosevelt. (#horses, #trailriding)
Swiss Dawn from the 61C intercity Bern->Basel. Had a great week at ISSI, participating in the solar eclipse/middle-corona conference by day and PUNCH support by night.
November 21, 2025 at 6:58 AM
Swiss Dawn from the 61C intercity Bern->Basel. Had a great week at ISSI, participating in the solar eclipse/middle-corona conference by day and PUNCH support by night.
The Proba-3/ASPIICS paper just dropped on ArXiV! If you like heliophysics, the corona, or cool mission concepts, give it a read. ASPIICS is a coronagraph comprising two spacecraft in formation: a camera and a separate occulter. They're producing amazing images. ☀️🛰️🔭🚀 arxiv.org/abs/2511.01679
November 7, 2025 at 5:42 AM
The Proba-3/ASPIICS paper just dropped on ArXiV! If you like heliophysics, the corona, or cool mission concepts, give it a read. ASPIICS is a coronagraph comprising two spacecraft in formation: a camera and a separate occulter. They're producing amazing images. ☀️🛰️🔭🚀 arxiv.org/abs/2511.01679
I'm delighted to see that @swri.org has joined us here! Southwest Research Institute does a ton of interesting things, but of course #heliophysics is one of them. The outreach/social-media team are really great, give 'em a follow! You won't be sorry. 🧪
(bsky.app/profile/swri...)
(bsky.app/profile/swri...)
October 23, 2025 at 9:26 PM
I'm delighted to see that @swri.org has joined us here! Southwest Research Institute does a ton of interesting things, but of course #heliophysics is one of them. The outreach/social-media team are really great, give 'em a follow! You won't be sorry. 🧪
(bsky.app/profile/swri...)
(bsky.app/profile/swri...)
Don't ever change, Apple Photos AI. You are very helpful. No, really. Without you, I might have confused this for a picture of a golden retriever.
October 21, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Don't ever change, Apple Photos AI. You are very helpful. No, really. Without you, I might have confused this for a picture of a golden retriever.
Sometimes we all need a little boddhi satva in our lives. Or a big one.
October 19, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Sometimes we all need a little boddhi satva in our lives. Or a big one.
Are you an undergrad or grad student nearing graduation? Find your next gig!
Announcing: the AAS/SPD grad student & postdoc opportunity fair, Wed. 5-Nov. Hear about opportunities across the nation, meet potential advisors, & learn about your next career step.
🧪🔭☀️🎢⚛️
spd.aas.org/graduate-stu...
Announcing: the AAS/SPD grad student & postdoc opportunity fair, Wed. 5-Nov. Hear about opportunities across the nation, meet potential advisors, & learn about your next career step.
🧪🔭☀️🎢⚛️
spd.aas.org/graduate-stu...
October 15, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Are you an undergrad or grad student nearing graduation? Find your next gig!
Announcing: the AAS/SPD grad student & postdoc opportunity fair, Wed. 5-Nov. Hear about opportunities across the nation, meet potential advisors, & learn about your next career step.
🧪🔭☀️🎢⚛️
spd.aas.org/graduate-stu...
Announcing: the AAS/SPD grad student & postdoc opportunity fair, Wed. 5-Nov. Hear about opportunities across the nation, meet potential advisors, & learn about your next career step.
🧪🔭☀️🎢⚛️
spd.aas.org/graduate-stu...
A lot of things sort of suck right now. I was delighted to find out that, for under $40, you can now buy an instrument that will tell you, with digital precision, just how much things suck.
Provided you can attach a hose to those things.
www.amazon.com/Manometer-Pr...
Provided you can attach a hose to those things.
www.amazon.com/Manometer-Pr...
October 7, 2025 at 11:22 PM
A lot of things sort of suck right now. I was delighted to find out that, for under $40, you can now buy an instrument that will tell you, with digital precision, just how much things suck.
Provided you can attach a hose to those things.
www.amazon.com/Manometer-Pr...
Provided you can attach a hose to those things.
www.amazon.com/Manometer-Pr...
What's all this fuss about solving for eigenmodes of mechanical systems? Gaussian elimination has been a solved problem since 1835. #math #dadjoke #illseemyselfoutnow
October 6, 2025 at 10:40 PM
What's all this fuss about solving for eigenmodes of mechanical systems? Gaussian elimination has been a solved problem since 1835. #math #dadjoke #illseemyselfoutnow
Great milestone from the PUNCH SOC team this week -- as we continue refining our data, we've rolled out preliminary Level 3 data, with most of the solar F corona removed. Current data are "v0g"; expect version "v0h" in about two weeks. We'll reprocess everything when we reach v1. ☀️
October 4, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Great milestone from the PUNCH SOC team this week -- as we continue refining our data, we've rolled out preliminary Level 3 data, with most of the solar F corona removed. Current data are "v0g"; expect version "v0h" in about two weeks. We'll reprocess everything when we reach v1. ☀️
David Hathaway and Lisa Upton just released an updated solar cycle prediction. In their words, it's "virtually unchanged since early 2022", an indicator that they're more or less getting it right with empirical prediction. Looks like we're *just* past maximum in the current cycle. ☀️🔭🧪🚀
October 2, 2025 at 10:03 PM
David Hathaway and Lisa Upton just released an updated solar cycle prediction. In their words, it's "virtually unchanged since early 2022", an indicator that they're more or less getting it right with empirical prediction. Looks like we're *just* past maximum in the current cycle. ☀️🔭🧪🚀
PUNCH has tracked Comet 2025/SWAN continuously at 4 minute cadence since early Aug, and 3I/Atlas continuously since 21-Sep. With the U.S. govt. shut down, I've been asked not to publish PUNCH imagery of 3I/Atlas. Instead, here's a tracked image from just before it entered our FOV. ☀️🔭🛰️🚀
October 1, 2025 at 3:40 PM
PUNCH has tracked Comet 2025/SWAN continuously at 4 minute cadence since early Aug, and 3I/Atlas continuously since 21-Sep. With the U.S. govt. shut down, I've been asked not to publish PUNCH imagery of 3I/Atlas. Instead, here's a tracked image from just before it entered our FOV. ☀️🔭🛰️🚀
Comet 3I/Atlas is a fun challenge for PUNCH. We're very sensitive, though not a "telescope" (~2.5' resolution: basically naked-eye). At mag 12, the sky is *very* crowded. But we can see Atlas and SWAN in nearly-raw data. We're imaging at 4 minute cadence 24/7; FOV is 90° centered on the Sun. 🧪🔭🛰️☀️
September 27, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Comet 3I/Atlas is a fun challenge for PUNCH. We're very sensitive, though not a "telescope" (~2.5' resolution: basically naked-eye). At mag 12, the sky is *very* crowded. But we can see Atlas and SWAN in nearly-raw data. We're imaging at 4 minute cadence 24/7; FOV is 90° centered on the Sun. 🧪🔭🛰️☀️
In order to view the #solarwind, PUNCH also captures literally everything in the sky that is within 45° of the Sun. When Comet 2025 R2 (SWAN) was announced, we looked for it in the data, and there it was! Here's a blog post about it. ☀️🛰️🔭🧪
whtwnd.com/punch-missio...
whtwnd.com/punch-missio...
September 22, 2025 at 3:22 PM
In order to view the #solarwind, PUNCH also captures literally everything in the sky that is within 45° of the Sun. When Comet 2025 R2 (SWAN) was announced, we looked for it in the data, and there it was! Here's a blog post about it. ☀️🛰️🔭🧪
whtwnd.com/punch-missio...
whtwnd.com/punch-missio...
September 15, 2025 at 5:57 PM
It took years, but I digitized and ditched my wall of binders full of Xeroxed journal articles on paper. I love #Zotero. But I'm starting to have 2nd thoughts about going all-digital. This morning I opened up Gosling 1997 ("CMEs: an Overview") and was greeted with this. Yikes! ☀️🧪
September 14, 2025 at 3:42 PM
It took years, but I digitized and ditched my wall of binders full of Xeroxed journal articles on paper. I love #Zotero. But I'm starting to have 2nd thoughts about going all-digital. This morning I opened up Gosling 1997 ("CMEs: an Overview") and was greeted with this. Yikes! ☀️🧪
Hey #Costco , it is September 13. September. It is not even the equinox yet. Why are your #Christmas decorations up?
September 14, 2025 at 4:45 AM
Hey #Costco , it is September 13. September. It is not even the equinox yet. Why are your #Christmas decorations up?
More interesting vanishing points. This skybridge is in Manchester, UK. "Feels" like noir science fiction set from the 1990s.
September 10, 2025 at 2:38 PM
More interesting vanishing points. This skybridge is in Manchester, UK. "Feels" like noir science fiction set from the 1990s.
It’s easy to forget, in a world of humongous jetliners like the A380, just how huge and imposing even a “little” EJ commuter jet is when seen from up close. We lost something by switching to sanitized enclosed jetway chutes at most airports.
September 9, 2025 at 3:02 PM
It’s easy to forget, in a world of humongous jetliners like the A380, just how huge and imposing even a “little” EJ commuter jet is when seen from up close. We lost something by switching to sanitized enclosed jetway chutes at most airports.
Pretty. I walked through here while adjusting to jet-lag yesterday, just before heading back to the hotel to crash and sleep.
September 8, 2025 at 3:45 AM
Pretty. I walked through here while adjusting to jet-lag yesterday, just before heading back to the hotel to crash and sleep.
I just climbed into the largest aircraft I have ever flown in. Lots of planetary scientists and other solar people in here too. The A380 is truly enormous.
September 6, 2025 at 9:58 PM
I just climbed into the largest aircraft I have ever flown in. Lots of planetary scientists and other solar people in here too. The A380 is truly enormous.