The Kuma Kogen Astronomical Observatory is located at Kumakōgen

Kumakogen, Ehime

is a town located in Kamiukena District, Ehime, Japan. The town was formed on August 1, 2004 from the merger of the town of Kuma, and the villages of Mikawa, Omogo and Yanadani, all from Kamiukena District....

 in Ehime Prefecture

Ehime Prefecture

is a prefecture in northwestern Shikoku, Japan. The capital is Matsuyama.-History:Until the Meiji Restoration, Ehime prefecture was known as Iyo Province...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

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

Telescope

A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...

.

Members of the public can book to observe at night, weather permitting.

Planetarium

A 40-seat planetarium

Planetarium

A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...

 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

Asteroid

Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

s, Akimasa Nakamura

Akimasa Nakamura

is a Japanese astronomer.He is a prolific discoverer of asteroids. He has worked extensively at the Kuma Kogen Astronomical Observatory near Kuma, Ehime Prefecture, where he remains a staff member...

.

External links

• Kuma Kogen Observatory home page – English version