* Astronomy

The mayor of Nagasaki, Itcho Ito, marked the 61st anniversary of its atomic bombing.

Elderly survivors, children and dignitaries bowed their heads at the city's Peace Park near "ground zero" for a moment of silence at 11:02 a.m. -- the moment when a U.S. bomber dropped the world's second atomic bomb on August 9, 1945.
Earlier, others attended masses at Urakami Cathedral in the city, home to many of Japan's tiny number of Christians.
The anniversaries of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima three days earlier coincide this year with renewed concerns about nuclear programs of other countries.

In the closing days of World War Two, the United States dropped a 10,000-pound plutonium-239 bomb, nicknamed "Fat Man," on Nagasaki.

It exploded about 500 meters above the ground, instantly killing about 27,000 of the city's estimated population of around 200,000. By the end of 1945, the number of dead due to acute radiation exposure reached about 70,000.
The names of 2,831 people who died recently were added to the list of victims, bringing the total number recognised by the city to 140,144. A few thousand names are added each year.
Ito called on Japan to protect its postwar pacifist constitution and keep its pledge never to possess nuclear arms.

"Once again we call upon the Japanese government ... to ground itself in reflection upon history and uphold the peaceful intentions of the constitution" - Itcho Ito.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi ensured the world that Japan would maintain its pacifist constitution and non-nuclear policy.

"Japan, the only country that has suffered atomic bombings in human history, has the responsibility to keep telling the international community about its experience" - Junichiro Koizumi .

Japan's ruling party and the main opposition party are seeking to revise the constitution, whose Article Nine prohibits maintaining a military but has been interpreted as allowing armed forces solely for self-defence.