Patent ID: 8654185

Claim:
A fluorescence observation apparatus comprising: an illumination unit that irradiates an object with illumination light and excitation light; a fluorescence-image acquisition unit that captures an image of fluorescence generated by the object due to the object being irradiated with the excitation light from the illumination unit, thereby acquiring a fluorescence image; a return-light-image acquisition unit that captures an image of return light returning from the object due to the object being irradiated with the illumination light from the illumination unit, thereby acquiring a return-light image; a light-distribution-characteristics-information storage unit that stores information with regard to the light distribution characteristics of optical systems provided in the fluorescence-image acquisition unit and in the return-light-image acquisition unit; an image correcting unit that corrects at least one of the fluorescence image and the return-light image using the information with regard to the light distribution characteristics stored in the light-distribution-characteristics-information storage unit so that the light distribution characteristics contained in the fluorescence image and the return-light image are made equal to each other; and an image normalizing unit that normalizes the fluorescence image on the basis of the return-light image, each of the fluorescence image and the return-light image being corrected by the image correcting unit.