The insect-like compound eye of the Subaru Telescope will debut in February

The Subaru Telescope in Hawaii is adding a new instrument to its arsenal that will observe the cosmos through a compound eye.

The compound eye will allow Subaru to observe about 2,400 objects in space, offering an extremely wide field of view and allowing simultaneous spectroscopic observation of thousands of objects. Subaru’s new instrument will shed light on long-standing questions in astrophysics for researchers, chief among them the formation and evolution of galaxies and the universe in which they reside.

The instrument is the Prime Focus Spectrograph and is one of the leading instruments in the next era of the Subaru Telescope. The spectrograph will collect light in the visible and some of the near-infrared ranges. The telescope will improve the telescope’s ability to observe spectra from distant light sources.

“This is just a stepping stone to the ultimate goals of continuing the operation for the long term, creating unprecedented scientific results, and sharing exciting news from Maunakea with the local community to the fullest,” said Naoyuki Tamura, Subaru Telescope Professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, in a release for the observatory.

“The discoveries that will be made with this cutting-edge instrument are something that all the people of Hawaii can be proud of; to be at the center of such meaningful international cooperation and human endeavour,” Tamura added.

The spectrograph team will begin a large sky survey that will take place over the next five years or so. A total of 360 nights of telescope time will be used to collect data on millions of galaxies and hundreds of thousands of stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way and our nearest galactic neighbor Andromeda.

The Subaru Telescope continues to operate. It reveals aspects of the universe from the amount of gases in it distant galaxies to eerie ephemera rocket launches over our own planet. Last year, Subaru data (specifically observations from the telescope’s Hyper Suprime-Cam) revealed two very large ones merging quasars in the early universe, but the telescope also showed that the Kuiper belt could be bigger than previously thought. In other words, the Subaru telescope is multi-purpose, balancing its duties in deep space with those much closer to home.

Subaru’s new compound eye will build on the telescope’s legacy and give it a runway to create more history. As for how exactly the spectrograph will change our understanding of the universe? For that, you’ll have to check back with Gizmodo in five years, when the telescope’s survey of the sky is complete.