December 18, 2020

New Instrument on Maunakea Telescope Nets its First Discovery

Subaru Telescope has a new state-of-the-art instrument, SCExAO/CHARIS, and it has made its first discovery. SCExAO/CHARIS is devoted to imaging and study of planets orbiting stars beyond our solar system (known as “exoplanets”). A team of astronomers have recently used this new instrument to identify an exoplanet, named HD 33632 Ab, orbiting a 1.5 billion year-old star similar to our […]
November 17, 2020

Observing Clusters of Galaxies Collide

Using a trio of world-leading observatories, including the Subaru Telescope on Maunakea, astronomers have observed clusters of galaxies colliding in the distant Universe. The Subaru telescope can observe the visible light from stars, but these galaxies also have other important components, including dark matter and hot gas, which can’t be seen with visible light. So the astronomers combined visible, radio, […]
November 2, 2020

Galaxies in the Infant Universe were Surprisingly Mature

An international team of astronomers have performed the largest survey of distant galaxies in the early universe ever conducted. This survey (nicknamed ALPINE) aimed at measuring the gas and dust in over 100 distant galaxies located over 12 billion light years away from Earth, and involved the use of two Maunakea Observatories — W. M. Keck Observatory and Subaru Telescope. […]
September 8, 2020

Astronomers Discover New Information about the Evolution of Planetary Systems

A team of astronomers have used the Subaru Telescope, located on the slopes of Maunakea, to precisely measure the dynamics of two young planets outside our solar system. Each of these planets are about the size of Neptune, and are currently in the early stages of formation. To date, the search for planets orbiting stars other than our Sun (known […]
August 28, 2020

Rare Encounters Between Cosmic Heavyweights

A combination of three Maunakea observatories (Keck, Subaru and Gemini) has been used by a team of Astronomers to discover several pairs of merging galaxies. In our dynamically evolving Universe, galaxies experience collisions and mergers with other neighbouring galaxies. These rare events can be dramatic, causing the birth of new stars and the rapid feeding of the supermassive black holes […]
August 11, 2020

Using Artificial Intelligence to Classify Galaxies in our Universe

A group of astronomers have used state of the art artificial intelligence algorithms to classify more than half a million galaxies in images obtained with the Subaru Telescope located on the slopes of Maunakea. About 100 years ago, the American astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered that various types of galaxies exist in our Universe, from beautiful spiral galaxies to smooth elliptical-shaped […]
August 7, 2020

Record-breaking Galaxy Provides New Hints About the Early Stages of Our Universe

Astronomers have used the combination of two powerful Maunakea telescopes (Subaru and Keck) to discover a nearby galaxy that has broken the record for having the lowest level of oxygen ever seen. In astronomy, elements heavier than hydrogen and helium (the two main elements created in the Big Bang) are called “metals”, and the earliest galaxies are expected to have […]
February 13, 2020

Astronomers Study the Formation of “Failed Stars”

A team of astronomers has used the Keck and Subaru telescopes on Maunakea to gain new insight into the processes of star and planet formation. They observed 27 star systems with planet-scale objects in orbit around them, by using specialized techniques to separate the light from the parent star and the much-dimmer orbiting objects. Some of the orbiters were giant […]
January 15, 2020

First Ground-Based Detection of Complex Organic Molecules in a Comet

A team of astronomers have used the Subaru telescope on Maunakea to detect the presence of complex organic molecules from a comet (Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner) in our solar system. Comets are made mostly of ice and dust, both of which are remnants from the early Solar System. The discovery that complex organic molecules like amino acids can exist in comets suggests […]
November 4, 2019

A 3-D View of a Distant Supercluster of Galaxies

A team of astronomers have used the combination of the Subaru and Gemini telescopes on Maunakea to get a more detailed view than ever before, of a distant cluster of galaxies. Using a technique known as photometric redshift to estimate distances to astronomical objects, the astronomers created a 3-D map of the galaxy cluster CL1604, which is located 7.3 billion […]
October 8, 2019

The Discovery of 20 New Moons Gives Saturn the Record

A team of astronomers using the Subaru telescope on Maunakea has found 20 new moons orbiting Saturn. This brings the ringed planet’s total number of moons to 82, which officially surpasses Jupiter (79 moons). Similar to the way in which the planets formed around the Sun in our solar system, it is believed that these moons originated in a gas-and-dust […]
October 8, 2019

Massive Filaments Fuel the Growth of Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes

An international group of scientists has used observations from the Subaru and Keck telescopes on Maunakea to observe enormous filaments of gas in the early Universe, extending over more than 3 million light years. By focusing on a massive cluster of galaxies located about 12 billion light years away in the constellation of Aquarius, the scientists were able to create […]