Gunma Prefectural Observatory

Observatory with the world's largest telescope

Takayama Village, renowned for its high elevation and stunning, expansive night skies, is known as the "Village of Beautiful Starry Skies."
The Gunma Prefectural Astronomical Observatory was built in this famous star-gazing village to commemorate the achievement of Gunma Prefecture’s population reaching 2 million in 1993.
The facility allows everyone to enjoy the cosmos easily and is equipped with one of the world's largest telescopes for direct observation.

At the observatory, visitors can observe the sun participate in mini-events during the day, and enjoy stargazing with the 150cm telescope and outdoor night sky viewing. On peak night of meteor showers, many visitors gather from within and outside the prefecture to lie on the grass and observe the meteor showers together.

The facility has a reception area, a shop, and a video hall. The video hall is used for astronomical lectures, school events, and academic meetings. Additionally, the second floor of the main building features exhibits including a solar display corner, panels on stellar evolution, models explaining observation equipment, and displays on data analysis.

Outdoors, there are exhibits replicating the 18th-century Indian astronomical facility Jantar Mantar and a stone circle from England dating back about 4000 years, allowing visitors to observe the positions of stars. The parking lot is located away from the main observatory to avoid light pollution from car searchlights and heat distortion from large paved areas.