Astronaut Kimiya Yui captured from ISS Subaru Telescope, Hawaii, U.S.

Credit: Kimiya Yui, JAXA, NASA

Subaru Telescope is the 8.2-meter telescope of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, located at the Mauna Kea Observatory on Hawaii. It is named after the open star cluster known in English as the Pleiades. It had the largest monolithic primary mirror in the world from its commissioning until the Large Binocular Telescope opened in 2005. The Subaru Telescope is a Ritchey-Chretien reflecting telescope. Instruments can be mounted at a Cassegrain focus below the primary mirror; at either of two Nasmyth focal points in enclosures on the sides of the telescope mount, to which light can be directed with a tertiary mirror; or at the prime focus in lieu of a secondary mirror, an arrangement rare on large telescopes, to provide a wide field of view suited to deep wide-field surveys. A number of state-of-the-art technologies were worked into the telescope design. For example, 261 computer-controlled actuators press the main mirror from underneath, which corrects for primary mirror distortion caused by changes in the telescope orientation. The telescope enclosure building is also shaped to improve the quality of astronomical images by minimizing the effects caused by atmospheric turbulence.

The local scenery on the ground is as follows.

Credit: Wikipedia

Reference: Kimiya Yui’s Tweet
See earthview photo gallery: LiVEARTH