Sapporo City Observatory

The Sapporo City Observatory is a small, octagonal building tucked into the greenery of Nakajima Park. Its roof features a distinctive dome that slides open to reveal a two hundred millimeter refracting telescope. This telescope originally served the Hokkaido University campus starting in nineteen fifty-eight. When the university replaced it, the city moved the instrument here to let the public view the night sky. In the mid-winter, visitors frequently line up in the freezing cold to catch a glimpse of the rings of Saturn.