Region
Okinawa Live Camera in Japan — 1 official webcam
One camera at the observatory on Mount Maezato, Ishigaki, showing the night sky as it is. What it points at is not scenery but space.
What you can see
One camera at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan's Ishigakijima Astronomical Observatory. It is the only camera in Okinawa Prefecture, and it is not aimed at the ground.
It stands near the summit of Mount Maezato, 230 m up, beside the dome that houses the 105 cm Murikabushi telescope. There are few town lights around it, so on nights when the air is clear the number of stars visibly increases.
What makes this camera unlike any other on the site is its latitude. The island sits at 24 degrees north, so stars that stay below the horizon from Honshu rise into the low southern sky here. The Southern Cross comes into view late at night from around December to June. In summer the centre of the Milky Way passes overhead.
It sits with the International Space Station camera, which looks at the same sky from the other side, on Night sky and Earth.
1 cameras in Okinawa
All 1 are live video. Tap one to open it in the camera list.
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Stream cover
Ishigakijima Observatory night-sky camera
Ishigaki, Okinawa · Space · Nature
Streamed from beside the dome of the 105 cm Murikabushi telescope, near the summit of Mt. Maezu at 230 m. At latitude 24°N the Southern Cross clears the southern horizon on winter and spring nights, which it never does from mainland Japan; in summer the bright core of the Milky Way passes overhead. The feed is still a trial and may stop without notice.
When to watch
It is a night camera, so opening it during the day shows nothing. Late at night Japan time is the premise. To check where it is night first, Which cameras are in daylight now is the page for it.
The feed is still in trial operation and may end without notice. The dates for the Southern Cross, December to June, are copied from the source's own description. We do not set a viewing season of our own here.
Closer looks at cameras here
Agencies publishing the cameras on this page
- National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ terms for reuse) — Official site
The footage belongs to each agency. This site is an unofficial guide, and each sample frame was copied once per camera under that agency's terms of use.