Astro Facts  

While most of the telescopes have hemisphere-shaped domes, the Subaru Telescope has the unusual cylinder-shaped one because it reduces the air turbulence around the telescope. When the air surrounding the telescope disturbs the light from a star, its image becomes blurry. The cylinder-shaped dome was designed with effective ventilation to prevent blurry images after various experiments and simulations. Compared to the hemisphere-shaped dome, the Subaru Telescope’s dome drastically reduces the airflow disturbance around the telescope!