On August 30, 2025, Professor Shogo Tachibana of UTOPS gave a lecture titled “Space Rocks and the Recipe of the Solar System” at the Children’s Science College hosted by the Bunkyo City Education Center.
The lecture introduced extraterrestrial materials and the science of the Solar System to elementary and junior high school students.
On August 2–3, Professor Shogo Tachibana of the UTOPS conducted an astronomy practicum for students from Matsumoto Arigasaki High School and Matsumoto Fukashi High School in Nagano Prefecture.
During the program, students analyzed the recession velocities of galaxies and estimated the age of the Universe through hands-on astronomical exercises.
The Next-Generation Astrochemistry Summer School was co-hosted on August 21–23, 2025, bringing together undergraduate and graduate students from universities across Japan.
The program featured lectures on astrochemistry from a variety of perspectives, including astronomy, Earth and planetary science, quantum chemistry, experimental physics, and surface science. Participants also took part in laboratory tours and hands-on mini practical sessions during the event.
Professor Shogo Tachibana of UTOPS gave a lecture to high school students at the 45th Mathematical Wings Summer Seminar, held in Toyama Prefecture from August 3 to August 7, 2025.
For more details, please see here.
On August 2 (Sat.) and 3 (Sun.), 2025, we held an astronomy training for students from Matsumoto-Arigasaki High School and Matsumoto-Fukashi High School in Nagano Prefecture. They estimated the distance to galaxies from photographs of galaxies and used the recession speeds of these galaxies to determine the age of the universe.
On August 4, 2025, sixteen students from Komatsu High School (Ishikawa Prefecture) visited UTOPS.
During their visit, they attended a mock lecture on unsolved problems in the Solar System and on the analysis of samples returned from asteroid Ryugu, followed by a tour of the laboratories.
On June 28, 2025, Professor Shogo Tachibana of the UTOPS will give a lecture at “Asteroid Day Special Talk 2025,” to be held at the Sagamihara City Museum.
His talk, titled “Mission to Apophis 3: Probing the Surface through Impact Experiments,” will introduce ongoing studies related to exploration of the asteroid Apophis.
Date and Time: June 28, 2025, 1:30 PM – 4:00 PM
Venue: Main Conference Room (Basement Floor), Sagamihara City Museum (3-1-15 Takane, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan)
Satellite venues: Kakuda (Miyagi Prefecture) and Kobe (Hyogo Prefecture)
Capacity: 200 people (first-come, first-served)
Admission: Free
For more details, please see here.
An essay by Professor Shogo Tachibana of UTOPS was published in the June 2025 issue of Kagaku, a monthly science magazine published by Iwanami Shoten.
The essay, titled “A Sampler that Traveled through Space,” is part of the serialized series “From the Night Classroom to Ryugu: Challenges of a Part-Time High School Science Club.” The article describes real experiences behind the story and discusses the development of collaborative research related to the Hayabusa2 mission.
For more information, please see here.
