Club Activities

Launch of the Toyohashi Tech astronomy club: TT3913–CosmicHunters

Ryoji Yukino is the inaugural leader of the Toyohashi Tech astronomy club launched on 3^rd September 2013. The members of the club will use their expertise in engineering and computer programming to develop technology for observing and analyzing stars, planets, nebula, and comets. The TT3913–CosmicHunters includes Adarsh Sandhu, professor at the Electronics-Inspired Interdisciplinary Research Institute (EIIRIS), advisor to the group.

Examples of projects in the pipeline include the development of smart phone-based optical spectrometers for analyzing the light emitted by stars and nebula; 24/7 monitoring of the sky asteroid showers using dedicated ultra-high sensitivity cameras and software that only records images during an event, thereby saving time to analyze video footage; and internet-based remote control of an astronomical observatory.

The Toyohashi Tech students are also planning to set up a network with fellow amateur astronomers from other universities in both Japan and overseas to share information and learn from each other about the latest trends and developments in astronomy and cosmology.

The night sky at Toyohashi Tech campus is dark enough to enable the observation of well-known constellations such as Ursa Minor, Cassiopeia, and Scorpius. Notably, a short trip to northern parts of Aichi, Gifu, and Shizuoka prefectures affords excellent views of deep sky objects.

A video of Jupiter taken by a member of TT3913—CosmicHunters

A video of Saturn taken by a member of TT3913—CosmicHunters