Sunrise iii: Overview of Observatory and Instruments

Abstract In July 2024, Sunrise completed its third successful science flight. The Sunrise iii observatory had been upgraded significantly after the two previous successful flights in 2009 and 2013, to tackle the most recent science challenges concerning the solar atmosphere. Three completely new instruments focus on the small-scale physical processes and their complex interaction from the deepest observable layers in the photosphere up to chromospheric heights. Previously poorly explored spectral regions and lines are exploited to paint a three-dimensional picture of the solar atmosphere with unprecedented completeness and level of detail. The full polarimetric information is captured by all three instruments to reveal the interaction between the magnetic fields and the hydrodynamic processes. Two slit-based spectropolarimeters, the Sunrise UV Spectropolarimeter and Imager (SUSI) and the Sunrise Chromospheric Infrared spectro-Polarimeter (SCIP), focus on the near-ultraviolet (309 – 417 nm) and the near-infrared (765 – 855 nm) regions respectively, and the imaging spectropolarimeter Tunable Magnetograph ( TuMag ) simultaneously obtains maps of the full field-of-view of $46\times 46$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mn>46</mml:mn> <mml:mo>×</mml:mo> <mml:mn>46</mml:mn> </mml:math> Mm 2 in the photosphere and the chromosphere in the visible (525 and 517 nm). The instruments are operated in an orchestrated mode, benefiting from a new Image Stabilization and Light Distribution unit ( ISLiD ), with the Correlating Wavefront Sensor (CWS) providing the autofocus control and an image stability with a root-mean-square value smaller than 0.005”. A new gondola was constructed to significantly improve the telescope pointing stability, required to achieve uninterrupted observations over many hours. Sunrise iii was launched successfully on 10 July 2024, from the Esrange Space Center of the Swedish Space Corporation near Kiruna (Sweden). It reached the landing site between the Mackenzie River and the Great Bear Lake in Canada after a flight duration of 6.5 days. In this paper, we give an overview of the Sunrise iii observatory and its instruments.

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Publication Details

Journal
Solar Physics
Published
2025-05-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-025-02485-1
Citations
11
Primary Topic
Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
12.70
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article

Sunrise iii: Overview of Observatory and Instruments

G. Fernández-Rico, M. Álvarez, Melani Bergmann, Jan Bochmann et al.
11 citations
Solar Physics
Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics
12.70
article

Sunrise iii: Overview of Observatory and Instruments

G. Fernández-Rico, M. Álvarez, Melani Bergmann, Jan Bochmann, E. Sanchis-Kilders, A. Tritschler, N. E. Raouafi, Hirohisa Hara, H. Laguna, Karin Gerber, Manuel Rodríguez Valido, A. L. Siu-Tapia, Takayoshi Oba, Tobias Preis, Sandeep Ramanath, Isabel Pérez-Grande, J. M. Borrero, A. Vourlidas, Antonio Campos-Jara, P. Barthol, Toshifumi Shimizu, J. C. del Toro Iniesta, Erich Schulze, Ángel Tobaruela, M. Balaguer Jiménez, Beatriz Aparicio del Moral, Montserrat Bayon Laguna, Reinhard Müller, A. C. López Jiménez, D. Germerott, J. S. Castellanos Durán, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Sonner, R. Volkmer, K. Heerlein, Ryohtaroh T. Ishikawa, Kunal Singh, Manuel Silva-López, T. L. Riethmüller, C. Quintero Noda, A. Lagg, P. Manzano, F. Heidecke, A. Ferreres, Masahito Kubo, Damien Przybylski, David González-Bárcena, M. P. Carpenter, Alejandro Gonzalo, Thimo Meierdierks, Daniel Álvarez García, Thomas Berkefeld, W. Deutsch, Julia Atiénzar, S. K. Solanki, Takuma Matsumoto, H. Eaton, P. N. Bernasconi, Yukio Katsukawa, H. N. Smitha, J. Staub, Yoshiyuki Naito, Markus Monecke, V. Martı́nez Pillet, Ignacio Torralbo, M. Kolleck, Ramón María García Alarcia, Yusuke Kawabata, F. J. Bailén, J. Hirzberger, Stefan Meining, J. Blanco Rodríguez, H. Strecker, B. Grauf, F. A. Iglesias, J. L. Gasent Blesa, Javier Piqueras Carreño, E. Nakai, María Cebollero, Minwoo Jeon, Andreas Zerr, L. Gizon, J. Heinrichs, David Hernández Expósito, Derek Lomas, Daniel Garranzo-García, L. R. Bellot Rubio, Stephan Werner, A. Gandorfer, Antonio J. Moreno Mantas, J. Hölken, A. Fernández-Medina, Sangwon Hyun, Pedro I. Rodriguez, José Miguel Morales, P. Santamarina Guerrero, Dušan Vukadinović, A. Feller, Daniel Ayoub, Marc Ferenc Müller, Fumihiro Uraguchi, Toshihiro Tsuzuki, Eduardo Bailón Martínez, Andrés García, Kamal Sant, Miguel Angel Gómez Sánchez-Tirado, Sam Goodyear, Edvarda Harnes, David Mayo Turrado, Geoffrey Palo, María-Jesús Rivas-Martínez
article en
11 citations

Abstract

Abstract In July 2024, Sunrise completed its third successful science flight. The Sunrise iii observatory had been upgraded significantly after the two previous successful flights in 2009 and 2013, to tackle the most recent science challenges concerning the solar atmosphere. Three completely new instruments focus on the small-scale physical processes and their complex interaction from the deepest observable layers in the photosphere up to chromospheric heights. Previously poorly explored spectral regions and lines are exploited to paint a three-dimensional picture of the solar atmosphere with unprecedented completeness and level of detail. The full polarimetric information is captured by all three instruments to reveal the interaction between the magnetic fields and the hydrodynamic processes. Two slit-based spectropolarimeters, the Sunrise UV Spectropolarimeter and Imager (SUSI) and the Sunrise Chromospheric Infrared spectro-Polarimeter (SCIP), focus on the near-ultraviolet (309 – 417 nm) and the near-infrared (765 – 855 nm) regions respectively, and the imaging spectropolarimeter Tunable Magnetograph ( TuMag ) simultaneously obtains maps of the full field-of-view of $46\times 46$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mn>46</mml:mn> <mml:mo>×</mml:mo> <mml:mn>46</mml:mn> </mml:math> Mm 2 in the photosphere and the chromosphere in the visible (525 and 517 nm). The instruments are operated in an orchestrated mode, benefiting from a new Image Stabilization and Light Distribution unit ( ISLiD ), with the Correlating Wavefront Sensor (CWS) providing the autofocus control and an image stability with a root-mean-square value smaller than 0.005”. A new gondola was constructed to significantly improve the telescope pointing stability, required to achieve uninterrupted observations over many hours. Sunrise iii was launched successfully on 10 July 2024, from the Esrange Space Center of the Swedish Space Corporation near Kiruna (Sweden). It reached the landing site between the Mackenzie River and the Great Bear Lake in Canada after a flight duration of 6.5 days. In this paper, we give an overview of the Sunrise iii observatory and its instruments.

Solar PhysicsVol. 300(5)
University of Mendoza (AR), Universidad de La Laguna (ES), University of the Basque Country (ES), Universidad de Granada (ES), The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI (JP), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JP), Parc Científic de la Universitat de València (ES), Institut für Sonnenphysik (DE), Swedish Space Corporation (SE), Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (US), National Solar Observatory (US), Euskadiko Parke Teknologikoa (ES), National Institute for Fusion Science (JP), Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (DE), Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (ES), Ludwig-Bölkow-Systemtechnik (DE), Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (ES), Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (JP), Korea Basic Science Institute (KR), Centro Científico Tecnológico - Mendoza (AR), Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (ES), National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (JP), Nagoya University (JP), University of Göttingen (DE), The University of Tokyo (JP), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (ES), Aalto University (FI)
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics
12.70
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