Author Archives: PFS Project

SuMIRe and PFS are introduced on Nikkei newspaper

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The PFS project was introduced on a Japanese newspaper “Nikkei” on 11 May 2016 (Here: only in Japanese). In the article, Masahiro Takada (the HSC science working group chair & PFS project scientist) and Naoyuki Tamura (PFS project manager) describe the SuMIRe project (the ongoing Hyper SUprime-Cam survey and the Prime Focus Spectrograph project), the scientific goal, and the nature/challenge… Read more »

The PFI test stage and environment control chamber have been fully assembled.

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Written by Shiang-Yu Wang (ASIAA, Taiwan) One of the PFS subsystems called Prime Focus Instrument (PFI), which will be installed to the prime focus at the Subaru telescope, comprises of a lot of different modules such as ~2400 fibers and their positioners, 6 cameras for acquisition and guide of a targeted sky field. These modules will be assembled at various… Read more »

Mass production of fiber positioners have started

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PFS will accurately position 2400 fibers to stars and galaxies on the sky in the field of view of about 1.3 degree diameter and deliver spectra for such a large number of objects at one exposure. The key component of this fiber positioning process is the actuator named “Cobra”. In the previous article, we described our testing activities to characterize… Read more »

Updates on Integration and Test of Spectrographs

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From David Le Mignant (LAM) As of early 2016, several PFS spectrograph activities are on-going in parallel in France, led by Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM) with the support from the other PFS members. Among them, two major items are: 1) the thermal validation for the Visible Camera Unit: Since last year we have been undertaking this validation process (https://pfs.ipmu.jp/blog/2015/11/p124)…. Read more »

Network Connection Test at Subaru Telescope

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Subaru Telescope, where PFS will be installed, has been used for cutting-edge researches in astronomy and astrophysics since 1999 when it started its science operation. Because we will install a brand-new, state-of-the-art instrument on the more than 15-years old telescope, we sometimes run into difficulties due to “generation gap”. Today we will talk about network connection, one of many such… Read more »

Welcome to PFS!

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Hitoshi Murayama The 7th collaboration meeting at LAM was a huge success. There were so much progress reported at the meeting, including the fully assembled camera being tested at LAM that was already covered on this blog (https://pfs.ipmu.jp/blog/2015/11/p124).  The project passed Complete Design Reviews on three subsystems since the last meeting, and the survey planning is generating exciting new ideas… Read more »

7th PFS collaboration meeting

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From 14 December, Monday to 18 December, Friday, we held the 7th PFS collaboration meeting at Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM) in France. This annual meeting, where the collaborators in the world put together, is one of the great opportunity to discuss the project face to face. During the meeting, technical teams and science teams report their progress at the… Read more »

Critical design review of the metrology camera system

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The metrology camera system (MCS) is one of the PFS subsystems that has been developed by ASIAA (Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics) in Taiwan. MCS will be the key component for quick fiber configuration. It is a camera system mounted at the Cassegrain port of the Subaru Telescope looking up the prime focus where the ~2400 science fibers and ~100 fiducial fibers… Read more »

Thermal validation of the Visible Camera Unit is in progress

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— From David Le Mignant (LAM) We talked about the cooling verification of the cryostat body of the Visible Camera Unit for the Spectrograph at Johns Hopkins University (USA). https://pfs.ipmu.jp/blog/2015/09/p68 After that process, the cryostat body was shipped to Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM) in France, where other parts are also delivered from the collaborators and a complete Visible Camera… Read more »

What will be revealed with PFS?

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— From Masahiro Takada (IPMU) Today we would like to introduce what we can study with PFS! The PFS project aims at three major scientific objectives. One of them is cosmology, in particular the nature of the so-called dark energy that is causing an accelerating expansion of the Universe. Its discovery earned 2011 Novel Prize in Physics. However, the discovery… Read more »