Takayuki Ohira
Planetarium Builder
“You can prove possible, but you can’t prove impossible” is Takayuki Ohira’s favorite saying. As a child, Takayuki built his own planetarium, and later at Nihon University created another called Astroliner that utilized a lens projector—a feat considered beyond the capabilities of amateur planetarium builders.
In 1998, he surprised the world by inventing MEGASTAR, a planetarium capable of displaying 1.7 million stars. In 2004, his MEGASTAR-Ⅱ-Cosmos—made in cooperation with The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation and projecting 5.6 million stars—entered the Guinness World Records. In 2011, Takayuki devised and built a 360-degree full-sphere planetarium installation in Estonia. Later, he invented and installed MEGASTAR Fusion, a new concept in planetariums, at Kawasaki Municipal Science Museum. Takayuki continues to stretch humanity’s perception of the cosmos and help us discover skies we have never seen before.
Reaching the Stars
Takayuki Ohira
Planetarium Builder
“You can prove possible, but you can’t prove impossible” is Takayuki Ohira’s favorite saying. As a child, Takayuki built his own planetarium, and later at Nihon University created another called Astroliner that utilized a lens projector—a feat considered beyond the capabilities of amateur planetarium builders.
In 1998, he surprised the world by inventing MEGASTAR, a planetarium capable of displaying 1.7 million stars. In 2004, his MEGASTAR-Ⅱ-Cosmos—made in cooperation with The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation and projecting 5.6 million stars—entered the Guinness World Records. In 2011, Takayuki devised and built a 360-degree full-sphere planetarium installation in Estonia. Later, he invented and installed MEGASTAR Fusion, a new concept in planetariums, at Kawasaki Municipal Science Museum. Takayuki continues to stretch humanity’s perception of the cosmos and help us discover skies we have never seen before.