February 10, 2009 | Andy Watt (ESSL/HAO) adjusts the Sunrise gondola, currently housed at Jeffco. The gondola, which is designed to carry a 1-meter solar telescope, will be launched via balloon from Kiruna, Sweden, this summer for a multiday flight over the Arctic. The system can capture images of the Sun’s surface in a higher resolution than can be obtained from Earth’s surface.

 The light in the upper left corner of the photo simulates the Sun. Researchers in HAO are developing software for an artificial intelligence system that will keep the telescope pointed at the Sun as the giant balloon twists and soars.