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Gas rings: the Subaru telescope has captured the inner and outer haloes of the Ring Nebula. Credit: NAO

The latest images from Subaru, one of the world's largest optical telescopes, were unveiled last week by Japan's National Astronomical Observatory to celebrate the completion of the 8.3-metre telescope.

Vivid images of the Ring Nebula (M57), the radio galaxy B3 0731 438 and Subaru deep field, a wide field near the North Galactic Pole, were released during the ceremony, which took place on Mount Mauna Kea in Hawaii, where the telescope is located.

Subaru gathered its first light in February (see Nature 397, 380; 1999), but last week's images are some of the first to be released since its full operation began in April this year. The images of the Ring Nebula (see right) show the details of its outer halo, revealing its two components: a bright inner part with many loops, and a fainter, more detached, outer part.

These observations contribute to the study of how the planetary nebula emerged. Subaru has also captured images of the active galactic nucleus in a radio galaxy 9.2 billion light years from the Earth.