Subaru Telescope partners with NASA’s Roman Space Telescope

The Subaru Telescope on Maunakea has entered an international partnership with NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. As part of this collaboration, the Subaru Telescope will contribute 100 nights of observations to support the space observatory’s mission.

Launched from Florida on August 30, the 2.4-meter Roman Space Telescope is designed to conduct wide-field surveys of the universe using optical and infrared wavelengths. The mission aims to investigate dark energy, cosmic structure, and the prevalence of planets throughout the Milky Way.

The two observatories will use complementary capabilities to study the cosmos. While Roman conducts sensitive infrared surveys from above Earth’s atmosphere, Subaru’s 8.2-meter mirror and wide-field instruments will provide detailed data on the distance, composition, and motion of specific objects. Subaru’s ʻŌnohiʻula Prime Focus Spectrograph will allow astronomers to follow up on large numbers of galaxies identified by Roman, while its SCExAO system will assist in testing technologies for directly imaging planets around other stars.