My world of stamps: JAPANESE ASTRONOMY

This week I have received a nice set of 10 used stamps from Sumie, from Japan.
These stamps were issued by Japan in March 2008, to commemorate the Astronomical Society of Japan’s centenary. They feature Jupiter, Saturn, a Spiral Galaxy, satellite ASTRO E-II, the Hayabusa probe which rendezvoused with near-Earth asteroid 25143 Itokawa, the Subaru teleskope with Edge-On Galaxy, Mars and the Nobeyama radio Observatory. Below you can take a glance of the MS.

Relying on the fact that almost anyone knows something about planets, I searched a bit to know more about the other astronomical objects and tools.

Galaxies come in a variety of shapes, with the shapes depending in a way not yet completely understood on the evolution of the galaxies. More than half of all observed galaxies are spiral galaxies.

A spiral galaxy is a certain kind of galaxy, originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work The Realm of the Nebulae and, as such, forms part of the Hubble sequence. Spiral galaxies consist of a flat, rotating disk containing stars, gas and dust, and a central concentration of stars known as the bulge. These are surrounded by a much fainter halo of stars, many of which reside in globular clusters. Spiral galaxies are named for the spiral structures that extend from the center into the disk. The spiral arms are sites of ongoing star formation and are brighter than the surrounding disk because of the young, hot OB stars that inhabit them.
Sometime a galaxy is turned in space so that we see it edge on. When this happens we often also see a dark line running down the center of the galaxy. This is a concentration of cooler interstellar dust outlined against the brighter background made by the stars that comprise the galaxy.

Suzaku (formerly Astro-E2) is a satellite for studying X-rays emitted by stars, galaxies, and black holes. It is a joint project between Japan and the US, and was launched on July 10, 2005. For those interested in learning more about this satellite please join Suzaku Learning Center.

Hayabusa was an unmanned spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa, to Earth for further analysis. See here the Mission Profile.

Subaru Telescope is the 8.2 metre flagship telescope of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, located at the Mauna Kea Observatory on Hawaii. Latest news here.

The Nobeyama Radio Observatory (NRO) is a division of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ) and consists of three radio instruments located in Nobeyama, a village in the Japan Alps at an elevation of 1350m. Official website here.

So here I am "lost in space" with all these galaxies, observatories and nebulae. Just wonderful. This reminds me of a song from DUNE: Million miles away from home.