Kagaya Yutaka is a Japanese digital artist born in 1968 who is known for painting elaborately detailed and spectacularly colored images. His images often include elements with a luminous quality. Some of his favorite subjects are astronomy and visions of utopian worlds. Among his most famous works are Celestial Exploring, Galactic Railroad and Starry Tales.

Born in Saitama (just north of Tokyo) in 1968, Kagaya spent his childhood in wonderment of the stars in the sky, and never stopped painting them. He has had a successful career as an illustrator for astronomical books and magazines, and many of his works have been turned into jigsaw puzzles, among other products. Since 1996, he has worked exclusively in the digital medium, using a Macintosh. Perhaps that is why he does not appear to sign his pictures.

He goes by his family name; his given name appears to be Yutaka, but in English you will also find him called Joh Kagaya (Jô is the Chinese reading of his name).

Since he was fascinated by celestial stars in his childhood, he has been working for astronomy, contributing many astronomical illustrations to books, magazines, and planetariums. Having his eternal motif in the grandeur of the cosmic world, he is also active in working for fine art pictures and animation movies. While stars are drawn just as they really are, nevertheless, images are fantastic and inspiring, by virtue of his Hyper Realism and his Celestial Transparency.

He is most popular in Asia. "The Zodiac, 12 Greek mythologies" is the best-seller in Jigsaw puzzles. The minar planet 11949 is named Kagayayutaka after his real name in honor of his contribution to astronnomy as an artist.

His website can be visited at http://www.kagayastudio.com