Presentation #221.02 in the session Education and Public Engagement for Upcoming Eclipses and Community Scientists.
The NASA PUNCH mission is a Small Explorer that will be uniquely capable of tracking space weather features from the Sun’s corona all the way to Earth orbit. The Outreach Program embedded in this mission engages PUNCH scientists (and other interested heliophysicists) in partnership with four planetariums and science centers plus other multi-cultural partners to activate an Ancient & Modern Sun Watching theme. This presentation will describe our theme and how it allows NASA heliophysics to become more personally and culturally relevant for historically marginalized populations in the US Southwest and beyond. In particular, the presentation will address how PUNCH science and ancient Sun-watching as evidenced in Chaco Canyon are related to the upcoming eclipses. Chaco is a World Heritage site in remote northwestern New Mexico which is home to a unique petroglyph that may be a representation of an active solar corona during a total solar eclipse in 1097. This presentation also describes the novel suite of multi-sensory, multicultural products that are available to the broader community for use with the upcoming annual and total solar eclipses. These resources will be valuable in an enduring way beyond the next few years of eclipses and high solar activity.