Nobeyama Science Workshop 2026

July 22–23, 2026, Osaka Electro-Communication University
ONLINE

The 45-m telescope at Nobeyama Radio Observatory has continued to be stably used by the general community for approximately 2,000 observing hours per year even after the observing time allocation system was changed from a proposal-review system to a fee-based system in 2022. Current observations span a wide range of science fields driven by the community, including star formation studies, nearby and distant galaxy research, astrochemistry, planetary atmosphere observations in collaboration with remote sensing, and multi-wavelength astronomy linked with high-energy astrophysics.

In addition, methodological developments in collaboration with the data science and AI communities have begun to produce tangible improvements in the observational efficiency of existing receivers. At the same time, the development of the new multi-beam receiver 7BEE, covering 72–116 GHz, and HINOTORI, which enables simultaneous observations at 22, 43, and 86 GHz, has been completed and both instruments are now available for open use. Furthermore, new development programs for a 150 GHz multi-beam receiver and a 230 GHz VLBI receiver have recently secured funding through the Japanese Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) program and entered the implementation phase in FY2026, indicating that both instrumentation and observational methodologies are continuing to evolve.

However, the observing time allocated per scientific project over the past five years has generally remained below 100 hours, which is relatively modest compared with past legacy projects that achieved high citation impact. As a result, producing higher-impact scientific outcomes is emerging as an important challenge for the future. One of the major reasons is the difficulty of securing large-scale research funding for purely science-driven observing programs that do not involve instrumental development.

Against this background, this workshop aims to provide an overview of recent scientific achievements across a broad range of research fields and to discuss the future scientific utilization of the Nobeyama 45-m telescope. In particular, discussions will focus on realizing large-scale observing programs on the order of 500–1000 hours, while considering the effective use of existing and new instruments, multi-wavelength collaborations, and the establishment of research consortia.