Cruise Report

Today’s lecture given by Mr. Makoto Tosa is about milky way.

“As a symbol, you can see constellation constructing triangle or square throughout the season. Also in Japan, such constellations often appear in the tales about the Star Festival”. By the way, In Sendai city where Mr.Tosa lives, there are soccer teams and baseball teams, etc with names that are related to Star Festival.

Although there are about 3000 stars visible to the naked eyes, Mr.Tosa says that the milky way is one enormous group consist of 200 billion stars. To his words, we can hear a gast of astonishment from the audience.

“ However, light polluting, natural enemy of starry sky are occuring. Light polluting is damage which makes the starry sky invisible because of the over use of lighting at the urban areas”. Mr. Tosa thinks everyday that something needs to be done against those light polluting.

Although milky way is consist of many stars gather together, there also are many dusts and gas which creates a dark nebula. Also, when you go near the equator, you may be able to see the end of the milky way. “When I held up my hand to the milky way, it was so light that I could see a shadow”, which was his experience in Australia.

By learning about the milky way and stars, watching the starry sky becomes more pleasant.