Our Projects
T60
T60
In September 2014, we opened the T60 observation facility, a telescope dedicated to observing planetary atmospheres. Located at the 3,000-m summit of Haleakalā on Maui, Hawai‘i, this site hosts a cluster of world-class facilities. In collaboration with the University of Hawai‘i, we operate the 60 cm optical telescope T60, equipped with three unique instruments for cutting-edge observations of Solar-System bodies and other targets.
Specifications of the T60 telescope
| Effective aperture | 600mm |
| Focal length | 7200mm / (Cassegrain focus) 14400mm (Coude focus, currently not in use) |
| Field of view | 10′ (depending on instrument) |
Visible Adaptive Optics
Ground-based images normally shimmer in the turbulent atmosphere. Our visible-wavelength adaptive-optics system corrects these distortions in real time, delivering diffraction-limited clarity. The left image compares Mercury observed with and without AO during daylight.
Visible High-Resolution Spectrograph
A fiber-fed echelle spectrograph with 120 fibers achieves a resolving power of R ≈ 65,000 in the visible. It probes planetary atmospheres, ionospheres, and magnetospheric gases with unprecedented detail.
DMD coronagraph
Designed to capture the faint plasma glow around Jupiter originating from Io’s volcanic gases (see left image), this coronagraph employs a Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) to block the overwhelming glare of Jupiter and its moons.
Io plasma torus w/ DMD-coronagraph
High-precision Polarimeter Dipol2
Built by the University of Turku, Dipol-2 performs spectro-polarimetry with a remarkable 0.001 % accuracy
Near-Infrared Spectrograph ESPRIT
Currently under development.
