The Remarkable Journey of Koichi Itagaki: Discovering Supernovae and Changing Our Understanding of the Universe

2023-07-13 18:00:00
On May 19, a bright light was observed in the ‘Pinwheel Galaxy’ near Ursa Major, 21 million light years from Earth (1 light year = distance that light travels in one year, 9.4608 trillion km). It was a supernova in which a star that had reached the end of its life exploded with the last of its energy. The supernova, dubbed SN2023ixf, has received more attention as it is the closest to Earth among supernovae discovered over the past five years. The first person to observe SN2023ixf was Koichi Itagaki (76) of Japan. He is an amateur astronomer whose hobby is stargazing. The international journal Science focused on Itagaki, a famous figure in the astronomy world, in its latest issue. Koichi Itagaki has discovered more than 105 supernovae and is called ‘Mr. Supernova’. The background of the photo is where Itagaki observes the stars. /Science He has observed at least 105 supernovae so far and has been named in dozens of papers. Since his name is often mentioned in supernova discovery announcements, academics call him ‘Supernova Hunter’ or ‘Mr. Supernova’. Andrew Howell, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, said, “He is one of the observers who observed the most supernovae in the world.” In 1963, he developed his dream by watching Kaoru Ikeya, a 19-year-old Japanese amateur astronomer who made a stir in Japan by discovering a comet with a telescope he made himself. He said, “I started studying the moon with a homemade telescope kit I bought with pocket money in middle school.” After graduating from high school, he bought a 15 cm diameter telescope and discovered a comet for the first time at the age of 20. Itagaki is still clipping newspaper clippings of Ikeya’s achievements from 60 years ago and hanging them on a frame. /NASA Itagaki was the CEO of a Japanese confectionery company. After graduating from high school, he immediately got a job at a confectionery company run by his father. After becoming CEO, he developed a ‘mini pack’ in which peanuts, cashews, and almonds were packaged individually so that he could eat them in one bite and became very popular. When he turned 60, he passed on his company to his sons and started a full-fledged hobby. The money he earned through his business was invested in space observation, and he said, “I would have invested the amount of money in a house.” For stargazing, Itagaki rented a hillside plot in Yamagata, Japan, to build a small private observatory, and later built more observatories in Okayama and Shikoku, Japan respectively. He said, “I dreamed of living with a large telescope in my cabin when I was in middle school, and in the end, that dream came true.” ◇ In 2004, when the unstoppable ‘Mr. A star shining bright like a supernova was found in Lynx. Itagaki recorded the star’s transformation, and two years later it actually went supernova. Previously, supernovae were thought to be a phenomenon that occurred suddenly, but with Itagaki’s discovery, it became known for the first time that a ‘precursor phenomenon’ could exist in a supernova as well. Professor Howell said, “Itagaki’s observations have greatly changed the understanding of supernovae.” Itagaki built an observatory in Yamagata, Japan. /Provided by Itagaki Itagaki has been active in observation activities, such as discovering a new supernova with completely different properties from the existing supernova in 2018. Science said, “The supernovae he discovered are slowly losing their light, but Itagaki is still looking for another supernova by turning his eyes to Andromeda, the closest galaxy to Earth.”
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