is a Japanese

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either o ...

. He specializes in the study of

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma, and sometimes also a Comet ta ...

s, in particular calculating their orbits and making predictions about when periodic comets will return for another

perihelion An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any e ...

approach. It is considerably more difficult to predict the orbits of comets than of other types of

Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...

objects, since their orbits are susceptible not only to

perturbation Perturbation or perturb may refer to: * Perturbation theory, mathematical methods that give approximate solutions to problems that cannot be solved exactly * Perturbation (geology), changes in the nature of alluvial deposits over time * Perturbatio ...

s from the

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a ...

s but also to non-gravitational forces due to the release of gaseous material in the form of a comet's

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

and tail. He is affiliated with the Computing & Minor Planet Sections (Center for Astrodynamics) of the

Oriental Astronomical Association The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of '' Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...

in Sumoto, Japan. He publishes the ''Nakano Notes'' on comet observations and ephemerides. In 2001 he won the Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. The

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the Solar System#Inner solar system, inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic o ...

3431 Nakano is named after him, and asteroid 3983 Sakiko is named after his sister.

1026 Ingrid 1026 Ingrid, provisional designation , is a stony Florian asteroid and long- lost minor planet (1923–1986) from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 7 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered by Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg in ...

was reidentified in 1986 by Syuichi Nakano, ending its time as a

lost asteroid A minor planet is "lost" when today's observers cannot find it, because its location is too uncertain to target observations. This happens if the orbital elements of a minor planet are not known accurately enough, typically because the observat ...

3568 ASCII 3568 ASCII, provisional designation , is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 17 October 1936, by French astronomer Marguerite Laugier at the Nice Observatory in s ...

is another long-lost asteroid whose recovery was made by Nakano.

External links

Nakano Notes

References

20th-century Japanese astronomers Living people 1947 births 21st-century Japanese astronomers {{japan-astronomer-stub