was a Japanese

astrophotographer Astrophotography, also known as astronomical imaging, is the photography or imaging of astronomical objects, celestial events, or areas of the night sky. The first photograph of an astronomical object (the Moon) was taken in 1840, but it was no ...

and astronomer.

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

has described him as "the world's foremost wide-angle astrophotographer". Fujii graduated from

Tama Art University or is a private art university located in Tokyo, Japan. It is known as one of the top art schools in Japan. History The forerunner of Tamabi was Tama Imperial Art School (多摩帝国美術学校, Tama Teikoku Bijutsu Gakkō) founded in 1935 ...

in 1961, and began working at observatories, producing a substantial bibliography of general-audience astronomy books. In 1974, Fujii began Japan's first

star party A star party is a gathering of amateur astronomers the purpose of observing objects and events in the sky. Local star parties may be one-night affairs, but larger events can last a week or longer and attract hundreds or even thousands of partici ...

, the "Invitation to Starlit Skies", which he hosted on

Mount Azuma is an active stratovolcano in Fukushima prefecture, Japan. It has a conical-shaped crater and as the name "Kofuji" (small Mount Fuji) suggests, the shape of Mount Azuma is like that of Mount Fuji. Mount Azuma's appealing symmetrical crater and ...

until 1984. Fujii's work is marketed by

David Malin David Frederick Malin (born 28 March 1941) is a British-Australian astronomer and photographer. He is principally known for his spectacular colour images of astronomical objects. A galaxy is named after him, Malin 1, which he discovered in ...

; he collaborated with

Serge Brunier Serge Brunier (born 1958 in Paris) is a French photographer, reporter, and writer who has specialized in popular depictions of astronomical subjects. Work and Target Brunier works together with the magazine Science et Vie and is a columnist of ...

in the production of 2001's ''Great Atlas of the Stars''. The main-belt asteroid

3872 Akirafujii 3872 Akirafujii, provisional designation , is a carbonaceous Eunomia asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 15 kilometers in diameter. The asteroid was discovered on 12 January 1983, by American astronomer Brian Skif ...

is named in his honor. Fujii died on 28 December 2022, at the age of 81.

References

External links

David Ratledge analyzes the "Akira Fujii effect"
at Deep-Sky.co.uk 1941 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Japanese astronomers 21st-century Japanese astronomers People from Yamaguchi Prefecture Astrophotographers 20th-century Japanese photographers 21st-century Japanese photographers {{Japan-photographer-stub