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 8-25 microns.
• FMOS - Fiber Multi Object Spectrograph - provides fiber-fed multi-object spectroscopy from 0.9-1.8 microns over a 30 arcmin field of view.
• 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 0.9-5.5 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^* (Procedures to carry-in Visiting instruments )

  • Kyoto3DII - Kyoto tridimensional spectrograph II - provides Fabry-Perot / filter imaging and integral field / long-slit spectroscopy in the optical.
  • HiCIAO - High Contrast Instrument for the Subaru Next Generation Adaptive Optics - provides a near-infrared imaging capability in the vicinity of bright sources.

  (*) Observing proposals using the visiting instruments must include the relevant instrument PI as a Co-investigator.

  Decommissioned instruments

  • CIAO - Coronagraphic Imager - provides a near-infrared imaging capability in the vicinity of bright sources.
  • AO36 - Subaru 36-elements Adaptive Optics system - delivers diffraction-limited images in the near-infrared.
  • CISCO/OHS - Cooled Infrared Spectrograph and Camera for OHS - provides imaging and low-resolution spectroscopy in the near-infrared.

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"
FMOS	500-2200 (1.2"; fiber diameter)	30', multi	--
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"	15
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"	12

General enquiries may be directed to Dr. Hiroshi Terada ().

02 August, 2012