Students from the Alliance for Technology, Learning and Society (ATLAS) Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder have partnered with NASA's Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission and the Colorado Center for the Blind to create tactile models of two ancient petroglyphs - carvings in rock that date back centuries.
This collaboration has culminated in an exhibit titled "Solar Stones." The student creators share their journey and inspiration behind the project in a video that also details the design and construction processes.
The "Solar Stones" exhibit features tactile representations of two petroglyphs located in Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico. One petroglyph depicts a central disk with curlicues extending outward, believed to represent the total solar eclipse of July 11, 1097, with a possible depiction of a solar eruption. Some astronomers suggest this could be the earliest known illustration of a solar storm in the Sun's corona. The second petroglyph, located nearby, serves as a marker for observing and predicting sunrises around the summer solstice, an event of cultural significance to both ancient and modern Puebloan peoples.
"My team really wanted to work on this project because space is normally such a visual medium and experience, but what if you can't see? How do you supplement that knowledge in an impactful way?" said Kai Hughes, an ATLAS student working on the project. "We thought it would be really helpful to combine history, space science, and accessibility to create tactile versions of these petroglyphs related to ancient astronomy that open doors to people with low or no vision."
"This project is important to me because I was never a traditional learner," said Caileigh Hudson, another ATLAS student on the project. "This is a great way to teach people about heliophysics through touch, which is different from the traditional learning we see in schools."
NASA's PUNCH mission, scheduled for launch in early 2025, will utilize four satellites to study the Sun's corona and the process by which solar material accelerates to form the solar wind that permeates our solar system. These satellites, placed in low Earth orbit, will continuously generate 3D images of solar wind and storms as they move from the Sun toward Earth.
The PUNCH mission also emphasizes outreach and collaboration with students through projects like "Solar Stones." The outreach program is rooted in the theme of ancient and modern Sun observation, illustrating how NASA's ongoing study of the Sun is a continuation of humanity's long-standing tradition of tracking and predicting solar activity.
"Our outreach theme enables us to make NASA heliophysics more personally and culturally relevant to a much broader diversity of people," said Cherilynn Morrow, outreach director for the PUNCH mission. "This includes our Native American and blind collaborators who work with us to make enriching outreach products like the 3D petroglyph models that are beneficial to everyone."
The PUNCH mission is working with four planetariums, science centers, and other multicultural partners in the Four Corners region of the United States (encompassing Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona) to implement its outreach initiatives. More details can be found on the PUNCH mission website.
PUNCH is managed by the Southwest Research Institute's office in Boulder, Colorado. The mission is overseen by NASA's Explorers Program Office at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, under the Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Southwest Research Institute will build the Wide Field Imagers for the spacecraft and will also manage its construction and operations. The Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., is responsible for building the Narrow Field Imagers and conducting optical testing, while the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Space in the United Kingdom will supply detectors and calibration services for the mission.
