SUNRISE III: Overview of Observatory and Instruments
A. Korpi-Lagg, A. Gandorfer, S. K. Solanki, …, R. M. García Alarcia, et al.
Solar Physics, vol. 300, pp. 75, Springer, 2025
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 Mm2 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.
Keywords: Sun: magnetic fields, Sun: photosphere, Sun: chromosphere, Instrumentation: polarimeters, Stratospheric balloons, High angular resolution
Cite
@article{KorpiLagg2025SunriseIII,
author = {Korpi-Lagg, Andreas and Gandorfer, Achim and Solanki, Sami K. and del Toro Iniesta, Jose Carlos and Katsukawa, Yukio and Bernasconi, Pietro and Berkefeld, Thomas and Feller, Alex and Riethm{\"u}ller, Tino L. and {\'A}lvarez-Herrero, Alberto and Kubo, Masahito and Mart{\'\i}nez Pillet, Valent{\'\i}n and Smitha, H. N. and Orozco Su{\'a}rez, David and Grauf, Bianca and Carpenter, Michael and Bell, Alexander and {\'A}lvarez-Alonso, Mar{\'\i}a-Teresa and {\'A}lvarez Garc{\'\i}a, Daniel and Aparicio del Moral, Beatriz and Ati{\'e}nzar, Julia and Ayoub, Daniel and Bail{\'e}n, Francisco Javier and Bail{\'o}n Mart{\'\i}nez, Eduardo and Balaguer Jim{\'e}nez, Maria and Barthol, Peter and Bayon Laguna, Montserrat and Bellot Rubio, Luis R. and Bergmann, Melani and Blanco Rodr{\'\i}guez, Julian and Bochmann, Jan and Borrero, Juan Manuel and Campos-Jara, Antonio and Castellanos Dur{\'a}n, Juan Sebasti{\'a}n and Cebollero, Mar{\'\i}a and Conde Rodr{\'\i}guez, Aitor and Deutsch, Werner and Eaton, Harry and Fern{\'a}ndez-Medina, Ana Belen and Fernandez-Rico, German and Ferreres, Agustin and Garc{\'\i}a, Andr{\'e}s and Garc{\'\i}a Alarcia, Ram{\'o}n Mar{\'\i}a and Garc{\'\i}a Parejo, Pilar and Garranzo-Garc{\'\i}a, Daniel and Gasent Blesa, Jos{\'e} Luis and Gerber, Karin and Germerott, Dietmar and Gilabert Palmer, David and Gizon, Laurent and G{\'o}mez S{\'a}nchez-Tirado, Miguel Angel and Gonz{\'a}lez-B{\'a}rcena, David and Gonzalo Melchor, Alejandro and Goodyear, Sam and Hara, Hirohisa and Harnes, Edvarda and Heerlein, Klaus and Heidecke, Frank and Heinrichs, Jan and Hern{\'a}ndez Exp{\'o}sito, David and Hirzberger, Johann and Hoelken, Johannes and Hyun, Sangwon and Iglesias, Francisco A. and Ishikawa, Ryohtaroh T. and Jeon, Minwoo and Kawabata, Yusuke and Kolleck, Martin and Laguna, Hugo and Lomas, Julian and L{\'o}pez Jim{\'e}nez, Antonio C. and Manzano, Paula and Matsumoto, Takuma and Mayo Turrado, David and Meierdierks, Thimo and Meining, Stefan and Monecke, Markus and Morales-Fern{\'a}ndez, Jos{\'e} Miguel and Moreno Mantas, Antonio Jes{\'u}s and Moreno Vacas, Alejandro and M{\"u}ller, Marc Ferenc and M{\"u}ller, Reinhard and Naito, Yoshihiro and Nakai, Eiji and N{\'u}{\~n}ez Peral, Armon{\'\i}a and Oba, Takayoshi and Palo, Geoffrey and P{\'e}rez-Grande, Isabel and Piqueras Carre{\~n}o, Javier and Preis, Tobias and Przybylski, Damien and Quintero Noda, Carlos and Ramanath, Sandeep and Ramos M{\'a}s, Jose Luis and Raouafi, Nour and Rivas-Mart{\'\i}nez, Mar{\'\i}a-Jes{\'u}s and Rodr{\'\i}guez Mart{\'\i}nez, Pedro and Rodr{\'\i}guez Valido, Manuel and Ruiz Cobo, Basilio and S{\'a}nchez Rodr{\'\i}guez, Antonio and Sanchez Toledo, Mariano and S{\'a}nchez G{\'o}mez, Antonio and Sanchis Kilders, Esteban and Sant, Kamal and Santamarina Guerrero, Pablo and Schulze, Erich and Shimizu, Toshifumi and Silva-L{\'o}pez, Manuel and Singh, Kunal and Siu-Tapia, Azaymi L. and Sonner, Thomas and Staub, Jan and Strecker, Hanna and Tobaruela, Angel and Torralbo, Ignacio and Tritschler, Alexandra and Tsuzuki, Toshihiro and Uraguchi, Fumihiro and Volkmer, Reiner and Vourlidas, Angelos and Vukadinovi{\'c}, Du{\vs}an and Werner, Stephan and Zerr, Andreas},
title = {{SUNRISE} {III}: Overview of Observatory and Instruments},
journal = {Solar Physics},
volume = {300},
number = {5},
pages = {75},
publisher = {Springer},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1007/s11207-025-02485-1},
url = {https://mediatum.ub.tum.de/1792089},
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 Mm2 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.},
keywords = {Sun: magnetic fields, Sun: photosphere, Sun: chromosphere, Instrumentation: polarimeters, Stratospheric balloons, High angular resolution},
file = {2025/2025_KorpiLagg_SunriseIIIObservatoryInstruments.pdf}
}