Astronomy Exhibit and Astronomical Observatory
The museum’s Astronomy Exhibit and Astronomical Observatory give visitors a close look at things that are normally very distant: the faces of planets, the composition of meteorites, and an entire galaxy of stars.
The exhibit area includes a large diorama of the planets in our solar system that shows their relative sizes. The center of the exhibit showcases several varieties of meteorite, including specimens of iron meteorite, stony meteorite (meteorite made of stone), and stony-iron meteorite (made of iron, nickel, and peridot). One of these has been mounted so that visitors can try lifting its surprising weight.
Mt. Sanbe is far from city lights, and therefore an ideal place to view the night sky. The museum’s Astronomical Observatory is a public facility equipped with one large, 600-millimeter-aperture telescope and four 200-millimeter-aperture telescopes that are available for visitors to use. Regular observation sessions are led by museum staff on Saturdays and certain holidays.