February 1, 1999
The universe has spent billions of years making things that shine. On your birthday, we celebrate one of its quieter masterpieces.
The Subaru Telescope
Birthday · February 1, 1999
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APOD published February 1, 1999. Full image credits are on the original APOD entry below. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Last week, Japan's new Subaru Telescope made its first observations of the sky. The gray building housing Subaru is visible just left of the white Keck domes near the photo's center. Subaru is the latest in the class of optical telescopes using a mirror with a diameter greater than 8 meters. Subaru's 8.3-meter primary is the largest single-piece optical telescope mirror yet made, and is so thin that its precise shape can be monitored and adjusted. Subaru will be owned and operated by Japan but located at the top of Hawaii's Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano famous for housing several of the world's leading telescopes.