Subaru Telescope and Native Hawaiian Advisors Name Prime Focus Spectrograph on Maunakea

The Subaru Telescope collaboration and Native Hawaiian cultural advisors announced the official name for the advanced Prime Focus Spectrograph (PFS) installed at the Subaru Telescope on Maunakea, with the decision disclosed on February 17, 2026. The naming marks a coordinated action between the telescope team and island cultural representatives at the Maunakea observatory site.

Dr. Larry Kimura and local cultural representatives participated in the PFS naming process, continuing a pattern of consultation in which Dr. Kimura has been involved in naming astronomical instruments on Maunakea. The presence of named Native Hawaiian advisors in the process reflects explicit involvement by cultural practitioners in instrumentation decisions at the summit.

The Prime Focus Spectrograph, identified in collaboration materials as PFS, remains installed at the Subaru Telescope facility on Maunakea and is now bearing the culturally informed name adopted on February 17. The Subaru Telescope collaboration led the technical stewardship of the instrument while coordinating the naming with the advisory group composed of Native Hawaiian cultural representatives and Dr. Kimura.

Institutionally, the February 17 naming underscores how the Subaru Telescope collaboration and local cultural advisors are shaping the interface between large-scale astronomy projects and Hawaiian cultural practice on Maunakea. That dynamic will be relevant to ongoing conversations about telescope operations, community consultation, and the cultural stewardship practices that inform how instruments are identified and presented to the public.

The naming of PFS on Feb. 17, 2026, joins prior instances in which Native Hawaiian cultural representatives and advisers worked with observatory teams on Maunakea. With Dr. Larry Kimura again named among the advisers, the event reinforces a continuing framework of cultural participation in the naming and presentation of astronomy infrastructure at the Maunakea site.