Sunrise (telescope)

Sunrise is a balloon- borne telescope for solar observation. It features a lightweight mirror system made ​​of Zerodur with an aperture of one meter. With a helium balloon, the 1.8 -ton telescope has been reduced to 36 km altitude, making observations in the UV range through the atmosphere are possible without hindrance.

Benefits

SUNRISE offers a number of advantages:

  • The seeing is practically by the observation height above turbulent air layers are not available
  • Throughout the mission solar observations can be carried out, since this time of year the sun does not set at these latitudes (see also midnight sun)
  • The polar winds provide a free drive energy

Technical details

The telescope operates diffraction limited with an angular resolution of 0.05 arcsec. The surface of the Sun and the distribution of their magnetic fields is measured with a spatial resolution of 35 km per pixel and a temporal resolution of 5 s. These are the same three observational instruments ( UV image sensor, magnetic recording, polarization spectrometer ) on board. It is the largest solar telescope ever to have left the earth.

The alignment in the desired direction as the Hubble Space Telescope by a plurality of reaction wheels. Subsequently, an inertia takes the position stabilization.

Mission

A first test drive in the fall of 2007 was already successful. The start of the Erstfahrt carried by 8 clock 27 on the June 8, 2009 from the Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden. Over the next five days, the system of polar winds over the North Atlantic and Greenland was carried to northern Canada. The landing took place by 1 clock 45 at June 14, 2009 on the island of Somerset in the Canadian province of Nunavut.

The second launch took place at 7 clock 30 at June 12, 2013 from the Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden.

Participating Institutions

Is headed the mission of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Lindau.

Other participating institutions:

  • Kiepenheuer Institute for Solar Physics, Freiburg
  • High Altitude Observatory, Boulder, Colorado ( USA)
  • Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Tenerife (Spain )
  • Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, Granada (Spain )
  • Lockheed -Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory, Palo Alto, California (USA)
  • Columbia Scientific Ballooning Facility NASA
  • The Esrange Space Center in Kiruna ( Sweden)

Funded the SUNRISE project is funded by

  • Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology ( Germany )
  • German Centre for Aerospace (Research number 50 OU 0401 )
Balloon (aircraft) Gas balloon Minute of arc#Symbols and abbreviations Somerset Island (Nunavut) Lindau (Katlenburg-Lindau) Boulder (Colorado) Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias Digital Object Identifier
755015
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