Collaborating with the National Astronomical Observatory Japan (NAOJ), the ANU Advanced Instrumentation & Technology Centre (AITC) will build an innovative Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics (LGS AO) system for the 8-metre optical-infrared Subaru Telescope in Hawaii, USA.  This will equipe the Subaru Telescope with state-of-the-art astronomical instrumentation: a wide-field near-infrared imager and a multi-object spectrograph both utilising Ground Layer Adaptive Optics (GLAO) with 4 Laser Guide Stars to improve seeing by a factor of 2 or more across a 20 arcminute field of view. The AITC is responsible for the development of the Laser Guide Star Facility and the Wavefront Sensor module as part of the project.

“The collaboration via ULTIMATE-Subaru has exceptional value, allowing ANU AITC staff who design and develop the Adaptive Optics enhancements to build unique skills and capability in partnership with our Japanese colleagues. ULTIMATE-Subaru is also a test-bed for future industry applications that are critical to space situational awareness, such as debris detection and the tracking of satellite orbits.” – Professor Céline d’Orgeville, Director of the AITC.

For more details, a eBooklet featuring the Australia-Japan ULTIMATE-Subaru collaboration is available here.