JASMINE Project

JASMINE Mission

The NAOJ JASMINE Project participates in and contributes to the "JASMINE Mission" promoted by JAXA Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), aiming to achieve the world's first ultra-high-precision infrared astrometry and time-domain astronomy observations.

Latest News

2026

• 2026.01 The official website of the JASMINE Project has been renewed.

2025

• 2025.08 JASMINE Consortium Meeting 2025 (8/18-19) Workshop has been held.
• 2025.03 Plenary Talk at the Spring Meeting of the Astronomical Society of Japan (by JASMINE Project Leader Ryohei Kano)

2024

• 2024.10 Press Release: Re-analysis of Observational Data of the Supermassive Black Hole at the Galactic Center
• 2024.10 Project leadership transitioned from Naoteru Gouda to Ryohei Kano.
• 2024.08 JASMINE Consortium Meeting 2024 (8/5-6) Workshop has been held.
• 2024.06 JASMINE white paper: "JASMINE: Near-infrared astrometry and time-series photometry science" published has been published.
• 2024.06 JASMINE Collaborative Research Program: Selected research theme "Study of Mira-type Variable Stars in the JASMINE Observation Field" announced
• 2024.05 Press Release: Phosphorus Enrichment by Novae—Approaching the Origin of Essential Elements

2023

• 2023.12 Call for Applications: JASMINE Collaborative Research Program
• 2023.11 ISAS News November 2023 [Frontiers of Space Science] JASMINE Mission: Connecting the Past and Future of Astrometry
• 2023.09 Selected for Future Academic Promotion Concept "No.156 Exploration of the Milky Way Galaxy and Exoplanets through Near-Infrared Time-Series Astrometry and Photometry with the Space Telescope JASMINE"
• 2023.09.27-29 FY2023 GOPIRA Symposium "Toward the Development of the GOPIRA Roadmap"
• 2023.09.20 Fall Meeting of the Astronomical Society of Japan FY2023 3 oral presentations
• 2023.06.20 Astronomical Herald July 2023 Special Feature: Optical and Infrared Astrometry (3)
• 2023.05.01 Dr. Pau Ramos joined the JASMINE Project as a project researcher.
• 2023.04.01 Dr. Takehiko Wada joined the JASMINE Project as an associate professor.

2022

• 2022.09.13 The special session "Near-Infrared Time-Series Astrometry and Photometry Pioneered by JASMINE" was held at the Fall Meeting of the Astronomical Society of Japan (Niigata University).
• 2022.08.01 Dr. Ryo Osawa joined the JASMINE Project as an assistant professor.
• 2022.06.30 Research results by Assistant Professor Makoto Miyoshi were released as a press release by NAOJ.
• 2022.05.01 Dr. Pau Ramos arrived in Japan as a visiting research fellow of the JASMINE Project (until the end of April 2023).
• 2022.02.28 An interview (in English) with Project Leader Gouda by Michael Perryman was published.
• 2022.02.11 Dr. Takuji Tsujimoto's ApJ paper was featured in AAS Nova (research highlights).

2021

• 2021.10.25 JASMINE Consortium meeting 2021 will be held online on 12/6-8.
• 2021.10.23 NAOJ Online Special Open House "Mitaka: Star and Space Day 2021" will be held. A special website featuring mini-lectures and explanations about the JASMINE Project has been published.
• 2021.10.22 The NAOJ JASMINE Project has an opening for an assistant professor position. We encourage applications.
• 2021.04.02 An introduction to the JASMINE Project and a report on the JASMINE Consortium Meeting 2020 were published in NAOJ News (No. 332; 2021/3/1).
• 2021.03.19 Part of presentation materials related to JASMINE from the Spring Meeting of the Astronomical Society of Japan have been made public.
• 2021.01.15 The official website of the JASMINE Project has been renewed.

2020

• 2020.11.24-25 JASMINE Consortium Meeting 2020 was held.
• 2020.09.01 Dr. Ryohei Kano newly joined the JASMINE Project as a professor.
• 2020.02.13-14 "Milky Way Galaxy Workshop 2020" was held at Kagoshima University, co-hosted with the Milky Way Galaxy Research Center at Kagoshima University.

2019

• 2019.07.13 The JASMINE Consortium was organized to promote the science of (Small) JASMINE.
• 2019.05.13 "(Small) JASMINE" was selected as JAXA's 3rd Small-Class Science Mission!
• 2019.04.01 The name was changed from "JASMINE Study Office" to "JASMINE Project".

Science Goals

The primary science objectives are as follows:

1. Through ultra-high-precision infrared astrometry, measure the distances and motions of stars located 26,000 light-years away to reveal the central nuclear structure and formation history of the Milky Way galaxy.
2. Clarify the evolutionary processes of galactic structures that cause the migration of the Solar System and planetary systems, and explore the overall formation history of the Milky Way galaxy, which is also related to the birth of humanity.
3. Utilize the high-precision photometric capabilities achieved through infrared astrometry for time-domain astronomy observations to search for Earth-like planets in habitable zones.