Subaru Telescope’s Prime Focus Spectrograph Receives Hawaiian Name ʻŌnohiʻula
Subaru Telescope’s Prime Focus Spectrograph Receives Hawaiian Name
ʻŌnohiʻula
HILO, Hawaiʻi – On November 19, the Subaru Telescope’s new Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) instrument was formally gifted the Hawaiian name ʻŌnohiʻula by Prof. Larry Kimura, a renowned Hawaiian language and cultural expert at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. Prof. Kimura is internationally recognized for previously bestowing the Hawaiian name Pōwehi on the first imaged black hole, a name drawn from the Kumulipo, the traditional Hawaiian creation chant.
In attendance to receive the name on behalf of the international PFS collaboration were Prof. Hitoshi Murayama, Principal Investigator (PI) of the PFS international collaboration and Prof. Naoyuki Tamura, and representatives Dr. Devin Chu, Astronomer-in-Residence at the ʻImiloa Astronomy Center, and Christian Wong of the Public Information Outreach unit of Subaru Telescope.
“It’s very important for Subaru Telescope to connect to our culture here in Hawaii and the way we can do that is through this name” said Prof. Kimura
“The name ʻŌnohiʻula represents the spectrum of the rainbow that we can see here, on the ground on earth, and the eye of the PFS and in particular the color red, a sacred color which is associated with what we call the heavens in Hawaiian culture.”
A New Flagship Instrument for Subaru Telescope
The Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) is a powerful new optical and near-infrared multi-fiber spectrograph mounted at the prime focus of the 8.2-meter Subaru Telescope on Maunakea. PFS can observe approximately 2,400 celestial objects simultaneously across a wide field of view of about 1.3 degrees in diameter, and will be used to explore cosmology, galaxy evolution, and the structure of the Milky Way by capturing spectra across a broad wavelength range from roughly 380–1260nm.
PFS has been endorsed by the Japanese astronomy community as one of Subaru’s facility instruments and began its major science operations in 2025, marking it as a new flagship facility for large-scale spectroscopic studies.
Continuing a Tradition Linking Astronomy and ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi
Prof. Kimura’s naming of ʻŌnohiʻula follows his earlier collaboration with international astronomers to name the first imaged black hole Pōwehi, meaning “embellished dark source of unending creation,” drawn from the Kumulipo. That naming helped demonstrate how contemporary astrophysical discovery can be described through the lens of Hawaiian language and cosmology.
The gifting of a Hawaiian name to the PFS instrument extends this partnership between scientific exploration and Hawaiian knowledge, recognizing both the global importance of Subaru’s surveys and the deep cultural significance of the Maunakea summit to the people of Hawaiʻi.
“ʻŌnohiʻula represents not just a powerful new eye on the universe, but a commitment to conduct that exploration in conversation and collaboration with the people and place of Hawaiʻi,” said Dr. Tamura. “We are honored to carry this name forward as ʻŌnohiʻula PFS opens a new era of discovery.”
All future references in scientific publications and press releases will refer to Subaru’s PFS as the ʻŌnohiʻula PFS in recognition of this collaboration and respect for the culture and people of Hawaii, the original Hawaii-based astronomers
Scientific Leaders in Attendance – connecting science and Hawaiian culture
Prof. Hitoshi Murayama is a leading theoretical physicist whose work spans particle physics, cosmology, and astrophysics. He is a professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and the founding director of the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU) at the University of Tokyo, where he served as director from 2007 to 2018. He has received numerous international honors, including the Particle Physics Medal in 2025 and participation in collaborations recognized by the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.
Prof. Naoyuki Tamura is a professor at the Subaru Telescope (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, NAOJ) and serves as Project Manager and Project Systems Engineer for PFS. His research focuses on optical and infrared astronomical instrumentation, mainly the development of large multi-object spectrographs such as PFS, and observational studies of galaxy formation and evolution.
Dr. Devin Chu, a Hilo-born astronomer and graduate of Hilo High School, Dartmouth College, and UCLA (Ph.D. in Astronomy and Astrophysics), currently serves as Astronomer-in-Residence at the ʻImiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaiʻi. His work includes both research and education, developing astronomy outreach and curriculum to inspire the next generation of stargazers in Hawaiʻi.
Christian Wong, of the Subaru Telescope Public Information Outreach office and Executive Director of the Hawaii Science and Technology Museum oversees numerous STEM education initiatives across the community and works closely with the Subaru team helping provide opportunities for Hawaii island students to access and be inspired by astronomy and other sciences through grant funding from the National Science Foundation and NASA.
For more information about the Subaru Telescope and the Prime Focus Spectrograph, please visit the Subaru Telescope and NAOJ project pages.
