03/06/2026
Experience the World's Most Powerful Instrument for Galaxy Exploration with Shadow the Scientists!
Join our "Shadow the Scientists" session and watch real-time observations with ʻŌnohiʻula PFS on the Subaru Telescope as astronomers collect spectra from distant galaxies!
Date & Time:
Wednesday March 11, 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. (HST; Hawai‘i Standard Time)
Thursday, March 12, 5:00 a.m. – 7:00 a.m. (UTC; Coordinated Universal Time)
Thursday, March 12, 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. (JST; Japan Standard Time)
Language: English
* Advance registration is required to participate in this Zoom session.
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About Shadow the Scientists
Shadow the Scientists (StS) is a program that connects the public to professional scientists in various scientific disciplines, including connections to professional astronomers through observing experiences with world-class telescopes.
This program was launched in 2020 during the COVID pandemic by a researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in collaboration with ‘Ohana Kilo Hoku, a native Hawaiian non-profit organization supporting astronomy and space programs, and other partners. Through the program, researchers invite members of the public to remotely experience observations with the Subaru, Keck, and Gemini North Telescopes near the summit of Maunakea, Hawai‘i, the Lick Observatory in California, and many other telescopes around the world.
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The ʻŌnohiʻula Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) is a wide-field, multi-object spectrograph installed on the Subaru Telescope that began full science operations in March 2025. This instrument can observe approximately 2,400 celestial objects at the same time across a wide field of view. It breaks down the light of each object into a rainbow extending well past the range of human vision, i.e., from the visible to near-infrared light. ʻŌnohiʻula PFS is one of the world’s most powerful tools for capturing and analyzing light from numerous distant objects simultaneously, making it an exceptional instrument for exploring and characterizing large numbers of distant galaxies.
Subaru Telescope staff will also present how the ʻŌnohiʻula PFS was developed, demonstrate how the instrument is operated, and share the meaning of its Hawaiian name, ʻŌnohiʻula.
In addition to watching world-class astronomical observations, participants will have the opportunity to listen to short talks by astronomers, scientists, and telescope operators, and to ask questions during the session. Why not join the StS sessions to remotely experience observations with the Subaru Telescope and to meet and talk with astronomers?
