Sunrise (telescope) explained

Sunrise Balloon-Borne Solar Observatory
Mission Type:	Balloon-borne telescope
Operator:	Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS)
Website:	Official Page
Mission Duration:	6 days (2009), 5 days (2013)
Manufacturer:	Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research Kiepenheuer Institute for Solar Physics High Altitude Observatory Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía Grupo de Astronomía y Ciencias del Espacio
Launch Mass:	2tonnes
Power:	1.5 kW
Launch Date:	8 June 2009 and 12 June 2013
Launch Rocket:	Balloon
Launch Site:	Esrange Space Center Kiruna, Sweden
Landing Date:	14 June 2009 and 17 June 2013^[1] ^[2]
Landing Site:	Nunavut, Canada
Telescope Wavelength:	SuFI: 225, 280, 300, 313, 388 nm IMaX: 525.06 nm SUPOS: 854, 853.8 nm
Telescope Resolution:	0.13-0.15 arcsec
Instruments List:	Acronym1: SuFI Name1: UV Filtergraph Acronym2: IMaX Name2: Imaging Magnetograph Acronym3: SUPOS Name3: Polarimetric Spectrograph (not in 2009)

The Sunrise balloon-borne solar observatory consists of a 1m aperture Gregory telescope, a UV filter imager, an imaging vector polarimeter, an image stabilizationsystem and further infrastructure. The first science flight of Sunrise yielded high-quality data that reveal the structure, dynamics and evolution of solar convection, oscillations and magnetic fields at a resolution of around 100 km in the quiet Sun.^[3]

Overview

The strong absorption of UV radiation by the Earth's atmosphere makes it challenging to carry out ground-based observations at these wavelengths. A balloon mission reaching altitudes of above 30 km benefits from a reduction of UV absorption by 99%, making engineering solutions for the telescope easier. The launch site was in the arctic region to make uninterrupted observation of the Sun over several days possible. The telescope has a 1 metre primary mirror that directs the 1 kW of solar radiation to the first focal point where 99% of the radiation is reflected out of the telescope, the remaining light is transferred into several instruments.^[4]

The one metre diameter primary mirror is made from a glass ceramic zerodur,^[5] it is the central part of the gondola of nearly 2 tons. Solar panels of 1.5 kW output power are used to power the onboard equipment and a hard disk array of 2 x 2.4 Terabyte is used to store the data during flight.^{[4] [6]}

Instruments

• CWS, Correlating Wavefront Sensor is a CCD camera with 1 kHz read-outs responsible generate the images necessary for image stabilization and proper alignment.^[4]
• SUFI, Sunrise Filter Imager observes the sun in five distinct wavelengths 214, 300, 312, 388 and 397 nm, on a 2048 x 2048 pixel CCD, through a filter wheele.^[4]
• IMaX, Imaging Magnetograph eXperiment^[7] observes the Zeeman splitting of the iron line (FeI) around 525 nm. The observed field of view is 50 x 50 arcseconds.^[4]

Flights

1. Sunrise's first flight was launched at 8:05 8 June 2009 local time from Esrange, near Kiruna, Sweden^[8] and it landed 1:45 14 June 2009 local time on Somerset Island, Nunavut, northern Canada after a flight duration nearly six days.^{[9] [10]}
2. Sunrise's second flight was launched at 7:38 (5:38 UTC) on 12 June 2013 from Esrange, near Kiruna, Sweden,^{[11] [12]} and it landed afternoon 17 June 2013 on Boothia peninsula, Nunavut, northern Canada after a flight duration of over 5 days.
3. Sunrise's third flight is scheduled for June 2024 from Esrange, near Kiruna, Sweden,. The third edition of sunrise is a step forward in terms of onboard instrumentation, with three new instruments, SUSI, SCIP, and TuMAG.

See also

• List of solar telescopes
• Hinode
• Swedish Solar Telescope

External links

• Sunrise website at MPG.de
• Sunrise website at GWDG.de
• Sunrise science blog
• October 2007 engineering test flight account by StratoCat
• Video of the launch from Esrange in 2009, part 1 and part 2.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Sunrise - A balloon-borne solar telescope . MPS.
2. Web site: Brief instrument overview . Sunrise consortium . 1 February 2014.
3. Web site: Sami Solanki . First results from the Sunrise mission . . Sami Solanki .
4. SUNRISE: High resolution UV/VIS observations of the sun from the stratosphere . 10.1016/j.asr.2007.09.024 . Advances in Space Research . 42 . 1 . 2008 . 70–77 . Barthol . P . Gandorfer . A . Solanki . S . Knolker . M . Pillet . V . Schmidt . W . Title . A . 2008AdSpR..42...70T.
5. 1009.3196 . The Wave-Front Correction System for the Sunrise Balloon-Borne Solar Observatory. 2011SoPh..268..103B . 10.1007/s11207-010-9676-3 . 2010 . Berkefeld . T. . Schmidt . W. . Soltau . D. . Bell . A. . Doerr . H. P. . Feger . B. . Friedlein . R. . Gerber . K. . Heidecke . F. . Solar Physics . 268 . 103–123 . Kentischer . T. . Lühe . O. . Sigwarth . M. . Wälde . E. . Barthol . P. . Deutsch . W. . Gandorfer . A. . Germerott . D. . Grauf . B. . Meller . R. . Álvarez-Herrero . A. . Knölker . M. . Martínez Pillet . V. . Solanki . S. K. . Title . A. M. . 1. 119186998.
6. Schmidt . W. . Solanki . S.K. . Barthol . P. . Berkefeld . T. . Gandorfer . A. . Knölker . M. . Martínez Pillet . V. . Schüssler . M. . Title . A. . SUNRISE - Impressions from a successful science flight . Astronomische Nachrichten . 331 . 601 . 2010 . 10.1002/asna.201011383 . 2010AN....331..601S . 6 .
7. The Imaging Magnetograph eXperiment (IMaX) for the Sunrise balloon-borne solar observatory . 10.1007/s11207-010-9644-y . Solar Physics . 268 . 1 . 2011 . 57–102 . Martínez Pillet . V . del Toro Iniesta . JC . 1009.1095 . 2011SoPh..268...57M. free .
8. Web site: Giant SUNRISE Telescope Successfully Launched . Spaceref . 1 February 2014 . 8 June 2009 . The giant telescope SUNRISE was launched from Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden. At 08.05 (local time) this morning, the largest balloon born telescope ever took off from Swedish Space Corporation's (SSC) launch facility at Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden..
9. Web site: Deutsche Forscher starten Sonnenteleskop "Sunrise" . Spiegelonline . 8 June 2009 . german.
10. Web site: Sunrise Science-Blog. .
11. Web site: Esrange website . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20131021094907/http://www.csbf.nasa.gov/sweden/sweden.htm . 21 October 2013 . dmy-all.
12. Web site: SUNRISE, successfully lifted off on June 12 . . 1 February 2014 . SUNRISE was successfully launched from Esrange Space Center on June 12, 2013 at 05.38 UTC..