Science February 22, 2018

Rare first moment of stellar explosion captured by amateur astronomer

The moment a supernova becomes visible in the sky has been captured by an amateur astronomer, and has helped an international team of researchers validate theoretical predictions about the initial evolution of such stellar explosions.

Science February 20, 2018

No relation between a supermassive black hole and its host galaxy!?—The co-evolution mystery deepened by a new ALMA observation

Astronomers observed an active galactic nucleus with ALMA and found that molecular gas in the galaxy is not affected by the ionized gas ejected from the nucleus. This result questions a popular scenario that supermassive black holes and their host galaxies co-evolve by affecting each other.

Science February 14, 2018

Rotating Dusty Gaseous Donut around an Active Supermassive Black Hole

High resolution observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) imaged a rotating dusty gas torus around an active supermassive black hole.

Events February 13, 2018

NAOJ’s VR Demonstration at SCWS2017

NAOJ had our own booth at the Science Centre World Summit 2017 (SCWS2017), a global meeting of professionals from science museums around the world.

Science February 6, 2018

HINODE Captures Record Breaking Solar Magnetic Field

Astronomers at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) using the HINODE spacecraft observed the strongest magnetic field ever directly measured on the surface of the Sun.

This article is including a link to a article for kids.

Science January 25, 2018

FUGIN Project: Large-scale Exploration of the Invisible Milky Way - Making the Most Detailed Radio Map of the Milky Way

Astronomers have conducted a large-scale survey of the invisible Milky Way using the Nobeyama 45-m Radio Telescope.

Science January 12, 2018

Black Hole Spin Cranks-up Radio Volume

The spin of the BH may play a role in the generation of high-speed jets blasting radio waves and other radiation.

This article is including a link to a article for kids.

Topics December 26, 2017

4D2U movie Wins Lumiere Japan Awards 2017 Grand Prix

Our VR (virtual reality) movie “A Journey Through the Milky Way” won the Grand Prix for the VR Category of the Lumiere Japan Awards 2017.

Topics December 1, 2017

Dr. Masaomi Tanaka Wins NCU-DELTA Young Astronomer Lectureship Award

Dr. Masaomi Tanaka, Assistant Professor in the Division of Theoretical Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), has won the Autumn 2017 NCU-DELTA Young Astronomer Lectureship Award.

Science November 21, 2017

Uncovering the origins of galaxies’ halos

Using the Subaru Telescope atop Maunakea, researchers have identified 11 dwarf galaxies and two star-containing halos in the outer region of a large spiral galaxy 25 million light-years away from Earth.