National Astronomical Observatory of Japan

The National Astronomical Observatory of Japan ( jap. 国立天文台 kokuritsu temmondai , state observatory ', shortly NAOJ ) is an astronomical research institution in Japan , several observatories in Japan and one in Hawaii operates.

history

The institution was established in 1988 from three existing facilities: the Tokyo Astronomical Observatory of the University of Tokyo , the International Latitude Observatory of Mizusawa , and part of the Research Institute of Atmospherics of the Nagoya University .

In the 2004 reformed structure of the national research institutions, the NAOJ became part of the National Institutes of Natural Sciences .

To mark the 20th anniversary of the institution, the asteroid (100483) NAOJ was named after it in 2008 .

Facilities

Gate of the Mitaka campus

Dome of the 65 cm refractor, now houses the Observatory History Museum

65 cm refractor

Mitaka campus

( Mitaka , 35 ° 40 ′ 30.8 ″ N , 139 ° 32 ′ 17.1 ″ E ) 35.6752172 139.5380831

Central Administration Office, Astronomy Data Center, Advanced Technology Center, Public Relations Center
Solar flare telescope, sunspot telescope, interferometric gravitational wave detector TAMA 300
Tokyo Photoelectric Meridian Circle (a 19 cm aperture telescope with a 257.6 cm focal length)
historical instruments: a solar tower telescope ("Einstein Tower"), a 65 cm refractor and a 20 cm lens telescope with a focal length of 310 cm labeled "Gaultier Meridian Circle" (with a straight-through instrument by Johann Adolf Repsold )