Japan 1953 – Tokyo Observatory 

The 75th anniversary of the founding of Tokyo Observatory was marked by the release of this stamp. Cassiopeia, Polaris and the Plough form a backdrop to the open dome of the observatory’s main telescope, a twin-tube equatorial refractor with objective lenses of 0.65-m and 0.38-m aperture which was built in 1926 and is the largest refractor in Japan. The observatory was originally based at the University of Tokyo but moved in 1924 to Mitaka city, 20 km west of Tokyo. Since 1988 it has been the headquarters of the National Observatory of Japan and larger instruments have been established on better sites elsewhere, most notably the Subaru telescope on Hawaii. The old telescopes such as the twin refractor are kept at Mitaka for historical purposes and public display. 

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