Akashi Municipal Planetarium

Public shows at Akashi Municipal Planetarium: Yes

Japan's oldest operating planetarium (Zeiss UPP 23/3); daily shows, 135th meridian clock tower, observatory. Check the official site for the current schedule and tickets before you go.

A planetarium show is the one astronomy outing that clouds and city lights cannot cancel. Most public shows run 30 to 50 minutes; live shows, where a presenter flies the sky to tonight's planets and constellations, are the best preparation for a night at a dark site. Shows often sell out on weekends and school holidays.

2-6 Hitomaru-cho, Akashi, Hyogo, Japan 673-0877. Phone +81 78-919-5000.

Akashi Municipal Planetarium has a 20 m (66 ft) dome and 300 seats

That makes it one of the large domes, built for big public shows. The largest planetarium domes in the world are about 35 m across; a classroom dome is 5 to 8 m.

Its star projector is the Carl Zeiss Jena UPP 23/3, an optical instrument that shines pinpoint stars through a ball of lenses, the classic planetarium sky.

How dark the real sky is outside Akashi Municipal Planetarium

Akashi Municipal Planetarium has no Bortle rating in the list yet. The scale below shows what each class looks like.

Sky brightness and class come from the World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness (Falchi et al. 2016, CC BY-NC 4.0), with natural skyglow added, at the coordinates below. Planetariums sit in towns, so the dome shows the sky the street outside cannot; the dark sky places nearby show the real one.

Akashi Municipal Planetarium among the planetariums of Japan

Pink dots are planetariums, green dots observatories open to the public, squares dark sky places and diamonds star parties; select one for its page. See Planetariums in Japan for the full list.

The coordinates on this page point to Akashi Municipal Planetarium on the 135th meridian (approximate): 34.649°N, 135.001°E.

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Open the larger map · Directions.

Dark sky places, observatories and clubs near Akashi Municipal Planetarium

Nearest dark sky places

Observatories open to the public within 150 km

• Kwasan ObservatoryKyoto, Japan, 82 km (51 mi). Public open days and observing events on scheduled dates, booking required
• Saji Astro Park (Saji Observatory)Saji, Tottori City, Tottori, Japan, 111 km (69 mi). Public night observing sessions; lodging cottages on site

Other planetariums within 150 km

• Bando Kobe Youth Science Museum (Kobe Science Museum)Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, 19 km (12 mi), 20.0 m dome
• Himeji Science Museum (Atom no Yakata)Himeji, Hyogo, Japan, 33 km (21 mi), 27.0 m dome
• Nishiwaki Latitude and Longitude Earth Science Museum (Terra Dome)Nishiwaki, Hyogo, Japan, 37 km (23 mi), 4.0 m dome
• Itami City Culture and Science Museum for ChildrenItami, Hyogo, Japan, 40 km (25 mi), 14.0 m dome
• Inagawa Observatory (Astropia)Inagawa, Hyogo, Japan, 44 km (27 mi), 5.0 m dome

Akashi Municipal Planetarium record

From the site's planetariums dataset (planetariumsglobal_q426). Distances are computed from the coordinates.