YGCO Hoshikawa and Nagano Stations

YGCO Hoshikawa and Nagano Stations form an astronomical observation site in Nagano, Japan, run as part of a long-running amateur comet-observing group.

About YGCO Hoshikawa and Nagano Stations

The stations belong to the Yamaneko Group of Comet Observers (YGCO), founded in 1980 by K. Ichikawa, and carry the international observatory code 892. Observers here work with a 0.25-metre f/3.4 Wright-Schmidt telescope and have logged roughly 12,300 astrometric and 6,300 photometric observations, largely focused on comets.

Location & getting there

The stations sit at a low elevation of around 16 metres in Nagano, in Japan's mountainous central Honshu region.

Visiting YGCO Hoshikawa and Nagano Stations

These are working amateur observation stations rather than public attractions, so there are no published visitor tours. Check with the Yamaneko Group of Comet Observers directly for current access details.

See your named star from here

A comet-tracking telescope like the one at Hoshikawa and Nagano works from the same principle as locating a named star: precise coordinates in the sky. See how the right ascension and declination behind a star named through Star Register works in the star catalogue.