The National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (国立天文台, kokuritsu tenmondai) (NAOJ) is an astronomical research organisation comprising several facilities in Japan, as well as an observatory in Hawaii. It was established in 1988 as an amalgamation of three existing research organizations - the Tokyo Astronomical Observatory of the University of Tokyo, International Latitude Observatory of Mizusawa, and a part of Research Institute of Atmospherics of Nagoya University. In the 2004 reform of national research organizations, NAOJ became a division of the National Institutes of Natural Sciences. In 2004, NAOJ, in alliance with four other national institutes - the National Institute for Basic Biology, the National Institute for Fusion Science, the National Institute for Physiological Sciences, and the Institute for Molecular Science - established the National Institutes of Natural Sciences (NINS) to promote collaboration among researchers of the five constituent institutes.
Universality of circular polarization in star- and planet-forming regions: Implications for the origin of homochirality
A research team with Jungmi KWON (GUAS/NAOJ) has performed deep imaging linear and circular polarimetry of the 'Cat's Paw Nebula' (NGC 6334) located in the constellation Scorpius, successfully detecting high ...
Mass of dark matter revealed by precise measurements of Milky Way galaxy
A research team, led by Associate Professor Mareki Honma from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), has succeeded in precisely determining the astronomical yardstick for the Galaxy based ...
Discovery of an ancient celestial city undergoing rapid growth: A young protocluster of active star-forming galaxies
Using the Multi-Object Infrared Camera and Spectrograph (MOIRCS) mounted on the Subaru Telescope, a team of astronomers led by Dr. Masao Hayashi (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan or NAOJ) and Dr. ...
New instrument increases Subaru Telescope's field of view sevenfold
The installation of Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) onto the Subaru Telescope took place on August 16-17, 2012. The availability of this extraordinary new instrument marks the beginning of a new era in observational ...
Discovery of the "Pigtail" molecular cloud
A research team of the Department of Physics, Keio University, has discovered a molecular cloud with a peculiar helical structure by observation with the NRO 45m Telescope at Nobeyama Radio Observatory, National ...
'Seeds' of massive black holes found at the center of the Milky Way galaxy
A research team at Keio University, led by Associate Professor Tomoharu Oka, has discovered intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) candidates at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. It is about 30,000 light-years ...
Subaru telescope pioneers the use of adaptive optics for optical observations
A research team from the University of Tokyo/Kavli IPMU, Ehime University, and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) has succeeded in conducting the first, full-scale scientific observationswith ...