Subaru Telescope’s new eye on the cosmos gets a Hawaiian name: ʻŌnohiʻula

Subaru Telescope’s advanced Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) has been given a new Hawaiian name, ʻŌnohiʻula. This name recognizes the instrument’s embodiment of the idea of “perceiving the realm of our origins,” honoring the people and land of Hawaiʻi and expressing our commitment to exploring the Universe together with the local community.

The Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) is a wide-field, multi-object spectrograph installed at the Subaru Telescope’s prime focus. It can observe up to about 2,400 objects simultaneously across a wide field of view and obtain their spectra over an extensive wavelength range—from visible to near-infrared light—in a single exposure. Since it began full science operations in March 2025, PFS has been opening a new era of large-scale spectroscopic surveys in cosmology, galaxy evolution, and the structure of the Milky Way.

On Nov. 19, at the naming ceremony held at the base facility of Subaru Telescope in Hilo, Hawaiʻi Island, Professor Larry Kimura of the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo formally presented the Hawaiian name ʻŌnohiʻula.

The name ʻŌnohiʻula is rich with meaning. The word ʻŌnohi refers to “what one perceives from their sight,” an idea inspired by the role of the telescope’s prime focus—where ʻŌnohiʻula PFS is mounted—as a kind of “eye.” The component ʻula means “red,” evoking both the countless redshifted galaxies that ʻŌnohiʻula PFS will observe and the studies of the early Universe and galaxy evolution—our cosmic origins—that these observations will enable.

Kimura further explains, “The name ʻŌnohiʻula represents the spectrum of the rainbow that we can see here, on the ground on Earth, and the eye of the instrument and in particular the color red, a sacred color which is associated with what we call the heavens in Hawaiian culture.”

This naming reflects a deep resonance between state-of-the-art scientific exploration and perspectives grounded in Native Hawaiian knowledge. It symbolizes Subaru Telescope’s commitment to honoring both the global importance of astronomical research and the profound cultural significance of Maunakea for the people of Hawaiʻi.

“It’s very important for Subaru Telescope to connect to our culture here in Hawaiʻi and the way we can do that is through this name,” says Kimura.

“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,” says Professor Naoyuki Tamura, who has long served as PFS Project Manager. “We are honored to carry this name forward as ʻŌnohiʻula PFS opens a new era of discovery.”

Professor Hitoshi Murayama, principal investigator of PFS, expresses both gratitude and resolve: “Our instrument received a beautiful name in the Hawaiian language. It represents the science of PFS very well. I have a renewed resolve to make sure we will produce exciting science with ʻŌnohiʻula PFS just as this name indicates.”