Seven instruments

Astronomical observation can be broadly divided into two disciplines: imaging observation, in which images of celestial objects are captured to examine their form, brightness and so on; and spectroscopic observation, in which the spectra from celestial objects are finely parsed to learn about its temperature, structure and other aspects. The images of space captured in the visible-light and infrared spectra differ strikingly. Visible-spectrum observation chiefly reveals stars similar to our own Sun and galaxies of similar stars. In contrast, infrared-spectrum observation is useful for studying low-temperature celestial phenomena such as star-formation fields and celestial bodies hidden by space dust from view in the visible spectrum.

Today the Subaru Telescope uses six observational instruments and one secondary observational instrument. These include the Hyper Suprime Cam (HSC), an 870-megapixel, ultra-wide-field-of-view digital camera consisting of 116 CCDs; the Multi-Object Infrared Camera and Spectrograph (MOIRCS), a near-infrared observational instrument capable of simultaneous spectrographic observation of multiple celestial objects; and an adaptive optics unit with a 188-element wave-front (AO188), which incorporates a laser-guided star-generation system that generates guide stars in areas of the sky where no guide stars exist. By means of this wide array of observational instruments, the Subaru Telescope can perform observations using a wide range of methods, in wavelengths extending from visible light to infrared.