Tag - astronomy

 
 

ASTRONOMY

The James Webb Space Telescope
JAPAN / Science & Health
Mar 10, 2024
Japan team using James Webb telescope to unlock secrets of the cosmos
Team has been pioneering research on supermassive black holes and the presence of heavy elements.
Takuya Usami, the curator at Mantenboshi, a stargazing observatory in Noto, Ishikawa Prefecture, said that a survey by the Environment Ministry had ranked the Noto region as among the best places in Japan for stargazing.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 29, 2024
Stargazing observatory in quake-hit Noto looks forward to reopening
“I want to show everyone little by little the beauty of the starry sky, one of Noto’s attractions," a curator at the observatory said.
Fans and deltas formed by water and sediment are seen in the Jezero Crater on Mars in this false color image taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and published in May 2019.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 27, 2024
Rover data confirms ancient lake sediments on Mars
The findings substantiate previous orbital imagery and other data leading scientists to theorize that portions of Mars may have harbored microbial life.
Northern lights observed in Bihoro, Hokkaido, on Dec. 1
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 21, 2024
Northern lights likely to be seen in Hokkaido again in 2024
Solar activity is forecast to increase toward 2025, likely leading to opportunities to see the ethereal curtains of lights.
A screen shows JAXA officials in the mission control room at the space agency's campus in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Saturday.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 20, 2024
Japan makes history as spacecraft lands on the moon
The successful landing makes Japan just the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the moon, but questions remain over whether the mission can achieve all its goals.
NASA astronaut Joseph M. Acaba speaks at an event during which the crew of the Artemis II space mission to the moon is announced in Houston last April.
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 10, 2024
Bad day in space: Moon mission fails and NASA program delayed
The twin developments represent blows to U.S. ambitions to stimulate a commercial space economy.
JAXA’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft is expected to land on the lunar surface in early 2024.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 21, 2023
One small step for a JAXA spacecraft, one giant leap for exploration
In 2024, we can look forward to the arrival on the moon of JAXA's SLIM spacecraft. Its groundbreaking accuracy could further propel space exploration.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency booth at the International Space Industry Exhibition in Tokyo in February
BUSINESS
Nov 13, 2023
Japan to create ¥1 trillion fund to develop outer space industry
The ¥1 trillion fund will be allocated over a 10-year period for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), as a new global space race heats up.
Artemis II moon mission crew members Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, Jeremy Hansen and Christina Koch pose for photographs after taking part in a news conference with NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on May 18.
WORLD / Science & Health / ANALYSIS
Oct 8, 2023
Geopolitics in space: Why great powers are scrambling for the moon
A new space race — pitting the U.S. and its partners against China and Russia — is expected to have significant implications.
Technicians open NASA's OSIRIS-REx capsule in a clean room at a U.S. military facility in Utah on Sunday.
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 25, 2023
Touchdown: Highly anticipated asteroid sample arrives on Earth
It is only the third asteroid sample, and by far the biggest, ever returned to Earth for analysis, following two missions by Japan's space agency.
A mosaic image of the asteroid Bennu, composed of 12 PolyCam images collected in December 2018 by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from a range of 24 kilometers
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 24, 2023
NASA readies for dramatic return of asteroid sample to Earth
Scientists hope the sample will provide a better understanding of the origin of the solar system and how the Earth became habitable.
Astronomers focus on Jupiter because it’s big, making it easy to see and more likely to suffer the impact of cosmic debris.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Sep 18, 2023
A fireball whacked into Jupiter, and astronomers got it on video
In August, stargazers in Japan recorded a bright flash on the giant gas planet. Scientists want to use data like this to study our solar system’s birth.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 29, 2023
Saving the Hubble telescope is worth spending the money
NASA’s plan to recruit unpaid volunteers to rescue the Hubble telescope fails to appreciate the ongoing value of this scientific treasure.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Apr 30, 2023
JAXA weighs new mission using Hayabusa and Hayabusa2 tech
JAXA aims to launch the probe in the mid-2030s and achieve a sample return in the mid-2040s.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 17, 2023
Dark skies, bright future: Japan looks to the heavens for tourism appeal
With a number of dark sky locations offering unparalleled stargazing opportunities, communities are hoping to capitalize on the draw of the cosmos.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 8, 2023
Runaway black hole creating trail of new stars
The supermassive monster — likely born of a bizarre game of intergalactic billiards — is rampaging through the blackness and plowing into gas clouds in its path.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 24, 2023
How three dust specks reveal an asteroid's secrets
The minute particles show some space rocks are vastly older than was thought, and are much tougher — which could mean we need bolder ways to prevent catastrophic collisions with Earth.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Nov 9, 2022
Skywatchers in Japan treated to rare type of lunar eclipse
The total lunar eclipse coincided with a lunar occultation of Uranus, in which the planet is eclipsed by the moon — something that hasn't been seen in 442 years.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 20, 2022
Webb space telescope renders Pillars of Creation with new depth and clarity
The spellbinding images show vast, towering columns of dense clouds of gas and dust where young stars are forming in a region of the Eagle Nebula, some 6,500 light-years from Earth.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Oct 15, 2022
Astronomers are captivated by brightest flash ever seen
Astronomers have observed the brightest flash of light ever seen, from an event that occurred 2.4 billion light years from Earth and was likely triggered by the formation of a black hole.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores