Topics & Announcements

The Subaru Telescope had its scientific first light in 1999. In the two decades since then, it has been expanding our understanding of the Universe with remarkable results in various research fields from our Solar System all the way out to the farthest reaches of the Universe. More than 240 astronomers from 14 countries assembled in the Island of Hawaii in late November to celebrate Subaru Telescope's 20th Anniversary, to share our recent scientific outcomes, and to discuss the on-going/future large programs, including international collaborations, to be conducted on Subaru Telescope. It was held as the 5th NAOJ Symposium and the 7th of the Subaru International Conference Series. The Subaru Telescope Users' Meeting FY 2019 was also combined with this symposium.

zoom

Figure 1: Group Photo. (Credit: NAOJ)

The following sessions took place in the symposium as plenary and parallel sessions. In total, there were 53 talks in the plenary sessions and 149 talks and 57 posters in the parallel sessions.

[Plenary Sessions]

• Subaru Telescope Users' Meeting FY 2019
• Synergy with TMT, Future Wide-field survey, WFIRST,
• Subaru Telescope Future Instruments,
• Science Keynotes

• Solar System: "Progress and Perspective of Solar System Science using Subaru"
• Exoplanet and Star Formation: "Past 20 Years and Future of Subaru's Role in Observations of Exoplanets and Disks"
• Local Group and Nearby Galaxies: "Wide-field-surveys of the Local Group and Nearby Galaxies"
• Galaxy Formation: "kaia•hö•kü: Towards Understanding the origin of the Complexity and Diversity"
• Supermassive Black Holes: "Demographics of Supermassive Black Holes across the Universe"
• Time Domain: "Time-Domain Astronomy in the Multi-Messenger Era"
• PFS Science
• Instruments and Software

zoom

Figure 2: Science Keynote. (Credit: NAOJ)

On the first day, as the Users' Meeting FY 2019, the annual Subaru Telescope report by Director Yoshida and the observatory staff, reports from other Maunakea Observatories, and reports about on-going large programs were made. This was the first time to have the Users' Meeting on the Island of Hawaii since the first meeting 20 years ago. Thanks to the relatively short distance from Hilo where the observatory offices are located, many observatory staff members commuted to the venue at Waikoloa and attended the symposium. It was a precious chance for staff working for Subaru Telescope and the Subaru Telescope users to interact directly and appreciate each other.

zoom

Figure 3: Discussion and Poster Session. (Credit: NAOJ)

On the second and fourth days, the synergies with future international large projects and Subaru Telescope's future instruments were discussed. The leaders of each international project emphasized Subaru Telescope's essential role in future optical-NIR astronomy and the advantages of cooperation between their projects and Subaru Telescope. The science sessions were held on the third, fifth, and sixth days. In the last session of the symposium, six distinguished astronomers gave scientific keynotes speeches. The series of science keynotes summarized the achievements from past to present and showed future views of various science fields from our Solar System to the earliest Universe, which helped us to look over the outcomes of Subaru Telescope's 20 years and to share the future visions across our realms of sciences.

zoom

Figure 4: Closing Remarks. (Credit: NAOJ)

The symposium was a great success as a celebration of the Subaru Telescope's 20th Anniversary. The number of participants has increased significantly from the first Subaru International Conference in 2007, and more than half of them came from outside of Japan. This indicates the expansion and the globalization of the Subaru Telescope community over the last 20 years. In the pleasant weather of Hawaii, many participants enjoyed the opportunity to exchange information and ideas. The Subaru Telescope is turning twenty this year. In Japanese, turning twenty years old (Hatachi) means becoming an adult. All participants left the symposium looking forward to the great future of the grown-up Subaru Telescope.

zoom

Figure 5: Banquet and Coffee Break. (Credit: NAOJ)

This symposium was supported by the NAOJ Research Coordination Committee, NINS (Grant Number 1901-0303), Subaru Telescope, Astrobiology Center, NINS, Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, NAOJ TMT Project, Fujitsu Limited, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP15H02069.