The Subaru Telescope itself

The primary mirror has an aperture of 8.2 m.

The primary mirror of the Subaru Telescope has an aperture of 8.2 m, making this smooth, monolithic mirror one of the largest in the world. A telescope's light-gathering capability is a function of the area of its primary mirror. The Subaru Telescope's capability is over a million times that of the human eye, enabling it to capture light from incredibly faint celestial objects. Also, the greater the aperture is, the higher the telescop's resolution becomes, enabling astronomers to view objects in greater detail than ever before.

The Subaru Telescope achieves resolution over 1,000 times that of the naked human eye. This is equivalent to being able to distinguish a coin on the summit of Mt. Fuji from a city street in Tokyo.

The Subaru Telescope itself
Instruments of the Subaru Telescope
The environment surrounding the Subaru Telescope

The primary mirror has an aperture of 8.2 m.

A telescop's light-gathering capability is a function of the area of its primary mirror. The primary mirror of the Subaru Telescope is one of the largest monolithic mirrors in the world, with an effective aperture of 8.2 m. Made of ultra-low-heat-expansion (ULE) glass, the mirror is 20 cm thick and weighs in at 22.8 t.

The faintest stars visible to the human eye have an apparent magnitude of 6 (log scale; higher numbers are fainter). With light-gathering capability of over a million times that of the human eye, the Subaru Telescope can observe stars with apparent magnitudes as high as 27. The glass for the primary mirror was manufactured in New York State, polished in Pennsylvania and installed in Hawaii. Painstakingly crafted over a period of 7 years, the mirror was transported to its final destination with the utmost care.

Transporting the primary mirror

Transporting the primary mirror