Tamarokuto Science Center

Public shows at Tamarokuto Science Center: Yes

Science Egg dome: tonight's Tokyo sky with live commentary plus themed shows; same-day tickets. 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.

5-10-64 Shibakubo-cho, Nishitokyo, Tokyo, Japan 188-0014. Phone +81 424-69-6100.

Tamarokuto Science Center has a 28 m (92 ft) dome and 207 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.

It runs an optical star projector, the Goto Chiron II, together with a Goto Virtuarium II digital system: the star ball gives pinpoint stars, the digital system fills the dome with video.

How dark the real sky is outside Tamarokuto Science Center

Tamarokuto Science Center 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.

Tamarokuto Science Center 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 Tamarokuto Science Center (map embed): 35.735°N, 139.523°E.

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

Dark sky places, observatories and clubs near Tamarokuto Science Center

Nearest dark sky places

Observatories open to the public within 150 km

• National Astronomical Observatory of JapanMitaka, Tokyo, Japan, 7 km (4 mi). Mitaka campus open daily for a free self-guided historic-telescope tour; regular stargazing evenings by lottery
• National Astronomical Observatory of JapanMitaka, Tokyo, Japan, 7 km (4 mi). Mitaka campus open daily 10 am-5 pm, free; solar observation weekends; regular stargazing open course
• Gekko ObservatoryKannami, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, 83 km (52 mi). Open 9:30 am-5 pm, closed Mondays and 4th Tuesday; adults 1200 yen incl. planetarium
• Usuda Star DomeSaku, Nagano, Japan, 108 km (67 mi). Public night viewing with 60cm reflector on open days; beginner astrophotography classes
• Usuda Star DomeSaku, Nagano, Japan, 111 km (69 mi). Public viewing through large telescope, 10 am-10 pm

Astronomy clubs within 150 km

• Astronomical Society of JapanMitaka, Japan, 7 km (4 mi)

Other planetariums within 150 km

• National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) - 4D2U Dome TheaterMitaka, Tokyo, Japan, 7 km (4 mi), 10.0 m dome
• NIPR Polar Science Museum (Antarctic and Arctic Science Museum)Tachikawa, Tokyo, Japan, 11 km (7 mi), 4.0 m dome
• Nakano ZERO Planetarium (Momijiyama Culture Center)Nakano, Tokyo, Japan, 14 km (8 mi), 15.0 m dome
• Kawasaki Municipal Science Museum (Kawasaki Sora to Midori no Kagakukan)Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan, 14 km (9 mi), 18.0 m dome
• Benesse Star DomeTama, Tokyo, Japan, 15 km (9 mi), 12.0 m dome

Tamarokuto Science Center record

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