Gekko Observatory

Public shows at Gekko Observatory: Not for the general public

Private observatory and museum with planetarium; weekend shows.

1308-222 Kuwahara, Tagata-gun, Kannami, Shizuoka, Japan 419-0101. Phone +81 559-79-1428.

Gekko Observatory has a 11 m (36 ft) dome and 80 seats

That makes it a small dome, typical of schools, colleges and portable shows. The largest planetarium domes in the world are about 35 m across; a classroom dome is 5 to 8 m.

Its projection system is the Digitalis Education Digitarium Kappa, a digital fulldome system that can fly the audience through the solar system as well as show the night sky.

How dark the real sky is outside Gekko Observatory

Gekko Observatory 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.

Gekko Observatory 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 Kannami town (approximate): 35.080°N, 138.950°E.

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

Dark sky places, observatories and clubs near Gekko Observatory

Nearest dark sky places

Observatories open to the public within 150 km

• Gekko ObservatoryKannami, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, 6 km (4 mi). Open 9:30 am-5 pm, closed Mondays and 4th Tuesday; adults 1200 yen incl. planetarium
• National Astronomical Observatory of JapanMitaka, Tokyo, Japan, 85 km (53 mi). Mitaka campus open daily 10 am-5 pm, free; solar observation weekends; regular stargazing open course
• National Astronomical Observatory of JapanMitaka, Tokyo, Japan, 85 km (53 mi). Mitaka campus open daily for a free self-guided historic-telescope tour; regular stargazing evenings by lottery
• Usuda Star DomeSaku, Nagano, Japan, 132 km (82 mi). Public viewing through large telescope, 10 am-10 pm
• Usuda Star DomeSaku, Nagano, Japan, 133 km (83 mi). Public night viewing with 60cm reflector on open days; beginner astrophotography classes
• Kiso ObservatoryKiso, Nagano, Japan, 144 km (90 mi). Exhibits and dome viewing room open daily; annual open day in August with evening observing

Astronomy clubs within 150 km

• Astronomical Society of JapanMitaka, Japan, 87 km (54 mi)

Other planetariums within 150 km

• Isehara City Children's Science MuseumIsehara, Kanagawa, Japan, 47 km (29 mi), 18.0 m dome
• Hamagin Space Science Center (Yokohama Science Center)Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan, 67 km (42 mi), 23.0 m dome
• Benesse Star DomeTama, Tokyo, Japan, 74 km (46 mi), 12.0 m dome
• Kawasaki Municipal Science Museum (Kawasaki Sora to Midori no Kagakukan)Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan, 81 km (50 mi), 18.0 m dome
• NIPR Polar Science Museum (Antarctic and Arctic Science Museum)Tachikawa, Tokyo, Japan, 81 km (51 mi), 4.0 m dome

Gekko Observatory record

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