The Kuma Kogen Astronomical Observatory (
Obs. code:
360
360 may refer to:
* 360 (number)
* 360 AD, a year
* 360 BC, a year
* 360 degrees, a turn
Businesses and organizations
* 360 Architecture, an American architectural design firm
* Ngong Ping 360, a tourism project in Lantau Island, Hong Kong
...
) is located at
Kumakōgen in
Ehime Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,334,841 and a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Toku ...
,
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
.
The observatory is in the Furusato Country Open Air Museum that incorporates the Seiten Castle (''sei ten'' means "fine weather" and can also mean "star sky".)
Telescope
The observatory has a 60 cm aperture optical
telescope
A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...
.
Members of the public can book to observe at night, weather permitting.
Planetarium
A 40-seat
planetarium
A planetarium (: planetariums or planetaria) is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation.
A dominant feature of most planetariums is ...
is attached to the facility. Thirty-minute shows are conducted during the day.
Staff
The observatory's best known staff member is the prolific discoverer of
asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...
s,
Akimasa Nakamura.
Comet images by Akimasa Nakamura
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012031451/http://www.town.kumakogen.ehime.jp/culture/astro/obs/comet/comet_e.html , date=2007-10-12 accessed 4 August 2007
References
External links
– English version
Astronomical observatories in Japan
Planetaria in Japan