Astronomy

Astronomy is a natural science that involves the observation of the extraterrestrial. This field studies near-Earth objects and other astronomical phenomena to help find the answers to the origin of the universe, to understand our solar system and galaxy, and to discover the laws of matter. In astronomy, various imaging technologies are used, such as solar imaging and spectroscopy, to study the sun's activity and Earth's upper atmosphere where auroras occur, for example. Imaging technologies based on image sensors and cameras are used in telescopes around the world.

Astronomical observation with extremely large telescopes

Large telescopes are used to observe exoplanets and protoplanetary systems to search for signs of life and to study the nature of dark energy by directly measuring the universe's expansion.

Large telescopes have been installed all over the world and observed space, including the Subaru Telescope, the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), the Keck Telescope, and the Gemini Telescope at the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii; the Alma Telescope in the Atacama Desert, Chile; and the Great Canarian Telescope in La Palma, Canary Islands.

The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) captured by the Subaru Telescope

Examples of our products used: Subaru Telescope

The Subaru Telescope is a large national optical-infrared telescope located at the summit of Mauna Kea on the Big Island of Hawaii. It is one of the world's most powerful telescopes used to study the history of the universe's expansion and measure dark energy.

Our image sensors are installed in the Subaru Telescope's prime focus camera. In addition, our image sensor will be installed in the spectrograph, which will start operation in 2024, and our CMOS camera will be installed in the wavefront sensor of the adaptive optics system of the ULTIMATE-Subaru (Ultra-wide Laser Tomographic Imager and MOS with AO for Transcendent Exploration), which will start operation in 2027.

Subaru telescope

Main systems of the Subaru Telescope and Subaru 2 Project that our products contribute to

Main systems of the subaru telescope and subaru 2 project

Recommended products

Astronomy is a field where various research is being conducted to discover and explore unknown celestial bodies and astronomical phenomena. This brochure introduces examples of such applications and our cameras suitable for each application.

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ORCA^®-Fusion BT digital CMOS camera

The ORCA-Fusion, a back-illuminated sCMOS camera, offers high QE (95 %) and low readout noise, enabling high sensitivity imaging.

Adaptive optics

Astronomical observations using ground-based telescopes are greatly affected by atmospheric turbulence caused by air temperature differences and wind, which can result in distorted star images. Adaptive optics technology is a method of obtaining the sharpest, most distortion-free star images at the performance limit of the telescope by immediately correcting the disturbed wavefronts. In order to achieve real-time and highly accurate wavefront correction, the camera used to measure wavefront turbulence must have fast readout performance and high resolution. In addition, the camera must have high sensitivity, as wavefront correction may be performed in situations with very low photon counts, such as fainter objects or laser artificial stars.

Wavefront correction with adaptive optics

Comparison with and without adaptive optics

*The presence or absence of large red spots in these images is due to the difference in the timing of the observation. It is not caused by adaptive optics.

There is new discovery by using adaptive optics. In the image without adaptive optics, the quasars were assumed to be a single one because the colors were exactly the same. However, with adaptive optics, two separate quasars appeared clearly. Furthermore, a galaxy appeared between these quasars.

Quasar No compensating optics

Quasar with compensating optics

ORCA-Quest 2 qCMOS^® camera

The ORCA-Quest provides highly accurate real-time wavefront correction with low noise, high speed, and high resolution.

ORCA-Fusion BT digital CMOS camera

The ORCA-Fusion, a back-illuminated sCMOS camera, offers high QE (95 %) and low readout noise, enabling high sensitivity imaging.

ORCA-Flash4.0 V3 digital CMOS camera

Equipped with a Camera Link I/F, the ORCA-Flash4.0 V3 enables general-purpose linkage with control systems.

Solar imaging

The sun has a great effect on the Earth. Imaging and understanding solar activity, such as researching flare generations from sunspots and magnetic field movements, is becoming more important as we strive to understand the cause and effect between the Earth and the sun. In order to closely track the internal structure of a solar flare and its evolution over time, a detector that simultaneously achieves high resolution, high speed, and high dynamic range is required.

Solar imaging

Optical-NIR Solar Flare Monitoring Telescope (known as ONSET)

ORCA-Flash4.0 V3 Digital CMOS camera is used for solar observations

Solar flare imaged by ONSET

ORCA-Flash4.0 V3 digital CMOS camera

The ORCA-Flash4.0 V3 digital CMOS camera observes sunspots at high speed and with a wide dynamic range.

Upper atmosphere imaging

The upper atmosphere is around 80 km to 400 km high. This height corresponds to the boundary region between Earth's atmosphere and outer space. This part of the atmosphere is in a plasma state which is ionized. Due to the interaction between the plasma and the atmosphere, auroras are produced in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. During the night, a dim airglow is produced at this altitude. The dynamics of the upper atmosphere can be measured with a high-sensitivity, high-resolution, and high-speed camera.