Instruments
Important: Current instrument status
Subaru Telescope has a suite of seven first generation instruments providing imaging and spectroscopic capabilities over the full range of wavelengths from optical to mid-infrared.
- AO188 - Subaru 188-elements Adaptive Optics system - delivers diffraction-limited images in the near-infrared.
- COMICS - Cooled Mid-Infrared Camera and Spectrograph - provides imaging and spectroscopy from 8-20 microns.
- FOCAS - Faint Object Camera And Spectrograph - provides optical imaging and longslit and multi-slit spectroscopy over a 6 arcmin field of view.
- HDS - High Dispersion Spectrograph - provides extremely high-resolution optical spectroscopy.
- IRCS - Infrared Camera and Spectrograph - provides imaging from 1-5 microns, and low-resolution and echelle spectroscopy over the same range.
- MOIRCS - Multi-Object Infrared Camera and Spectrograph - provides imaging and low-resolution spectroscopy from 0.9-2.5 microns over a 4 arcmin x 7 arcmin field of view.
- Suprime-Cam - Subaru
Prime Focus Camera - provides optical imaging over a large field of
view with a mosaic of CCDs.
Visiting instruments
- CIAO - Coronagraphic Imager - provides a near-infrared imaging capability in the vicinity of bright sources.
- Kyoto3DII - Kyoto tridimensional spectrograph II - provides Fabry-Perot / filter imaging and integral field / long-slit spectroscopy in the optical.
Decommissioned instruments
A number of exposure time calculators are available.
The following figure and tables should help you decide which instrument(s) is right for your needs.
Spectroscopic capabilities
| Instrument | Resolution | Slit length | Pixel scale |
|---|---|---|---|
| COMICS | 10000 (0.33") | 40" | 0.165" |
| FOCAS | 250-7500 (0.4") | 6', multi | 0.1" |
| HDS | 100000 (0.38") | 10",60" | 0.13" |
| IRCS (grism) | 50-1400 (0.15-0.90") | 21",54" | 0.020",0.052" |
| IRCS (echelle) | 5000-20000 (0.14-0.55") | 4.8-9.6" | 0.060" |
| MOIRCS | 640-1600 (0.5") | multi | 0.117" |
Imaging capabilities
| Instrument | Field of view | Pixel scale | Filters |
|---|---|---|---|
| COMICS | 42 x 32" | 0.133" | 12 |
| FOCAS | 6' diameter | 0.1" | 14 |
| IRCS | 21,54" | 0.020",0.052" | 18 |
| MOIRCS | 4' x 7' | 0.117" | 3 |
| Suprime-Cam | 34' x 27' | 0.20" | 10 |