SuprimeCam

Suprime-Cam, short for Subaru Prime Focus Camera, is a wide-field optical imaging instrument installed on the Subaru Telescope at the Mauna Kea Observatory. It was developed primarily by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) with international collaboration to provide deep, wide-field images with high sensitivity across the optical spectrum.

Design and capabilities: The camera uses a mosaic of ten CCD detectors, each about 2k×4k pixels, to deliver a total field of view of roughly 34 by 27 arcminutes. The pixel scale is around 0.2 arcseconds per pixel under typical good seeing conditions. Suprime-Cam supports a broad set of filters, including standard broadband systems (UBVRI) and several narrow-band filters used for emission-line surveys and high-redshift studies.

Scientific impact: Suprime-Cam has been employed for major wide-field imaging programs, including deep-field surveys, galaxy cluster investigations, gravitational lensing measurements, and searches for high-redshift galaxies and supernovae. Notable projects associated with Suprime-Cam include deep-field observations and large-area imaging that contributed to the understanding of galaxy formation and evolution in the early universe.

Operational history and legacy: Commissioned in the early 2000s, Suprime-Cam served as Subaru’s principal wide-field optical imager for more than a decade. With the introduction of Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) as its successor in the mid-2010s, Suprime-Cam gradually shifted from primary survey work, though it continued to operate for select programs for several years. The instrument remains a significant part of Subaru’s history of wide-field astronomy and has left a lasting legacy in optical imaging data archives.