Patent ID: 8259167

Claim:
A scattering medium internal observation apparatus, comprising: a light source; an illuminating apparatus that guides light from the light source to an observation object that is a scattering body; and an observation optical system for observing the observation object illuminated by the illuminating apparatus, wherein the illuminating apparatus has a light-guiding member that guides light from the light source to a surface of the observation object, and a light-shielding member is disposed at an end portion of the light-guiding member on an observation object-side, wherein the light-shielding member covers at least a part of the surface of the observation object, and wherein the light-shielding member shields light reflected or scattered from the observation object that comes from the vicinity of the light-guiding member while at the same time not shielding light reflected or scattered from the observation object that comes from outside the vicinity of the light-guiding member.