Mizusawa (水沢市) was a city located in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. It is currently part of the city of Ōshū. Mizusawa is home to one of the six International Latitude Observatories. The observatories were close to the parallel of 39 degrees 8 minutes north latitude. They worked together to study the Earth's "wobble" using stars selected by Dr. Kimura, the astronomer in charge of the Mizusawa station. Twelve groups of stars that had six pairs of stars each were chosen. Two groups of stars were observed at each station following a schedule of dates, time, and duration prepared by Kimura. As of February 2006, the city had an estimated population of 60,239 and a population density of 621.53 persons per km2. The total area was 96.92 km2.

History

Notable people born here