SUNRISE: High resolution UV/VIS observations of the Sun from the stratosphere

摘要

SUNRISE is a balloon-borne solar telescope with an aperture of 1 m, working in the UV/VIS optical domain. The main scientific goal of SUNRISE is to understand the structure and dynamics of the magnetic field in the atmosphere of the Sun. SUNRISE will provide diffraction-limited images of the photosphere and chromosphere with an unpredecented resolution down to 35 km at wavelengths around 220 nm. Focal-plane instruments are a spectrograph/polarimeter, a Fabry-Perot filter magnetograph, and a filter imager. The first stratospheric long-duration balloon flight of SUNRISE over Antarctica is planned in winter 2006/2007. SUNRISE is a joint project of the Max-Planck-Institut fiir Sonnensystemforschung (MPS), Katlenburg-Lindau, with the Kiepenheuer-Institut fiir Sonnenphysik (KIS), Freiburg, the High-Altitude Observatory (HAO), Boulder, the Lockheed-Martin Solar and Astrophysics Lab. (LMSAL), Palo Alto, and the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, La Laguna, Tenerife. In this paper we will present an overview on the mission and give a description of the instrumentation, now, at the beginning of the hardware construction phase.