was a Japanese

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

. He was a prolific discoverer of

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

s, observing at Nihondaira Observatory. In 1978 he became the first amateur to discover a minor planet (

2090 Mizuho 2090 Mizuho, provisional designation , is a stony asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 18 kilometers in diameter. The asteroid was discovered on 12 March 1978, by Japanese astronomer Takeshi Urata at the JCPM Yak ...

) in over fifty years, which he named after his daughter, Mizuho. His pioneering feat led to an upsurge in such discoveries. In the ten years that followed, amateurs from Japan discovered 160 minor planets. Urata shared his observation data with peer astronomers in Japan on a periodical called "Tenkai" (the Heavens), as well as contributed to academic journals such as ''Advances in Space Research'' and participated in poster presentations at astronomical conferences. Urata co-discovered the periodic comet 112P/Urata-Niijima in 1986. One of the most active amateur astronomers in Japan, he was also an editor of the Japanese ''Ephemerides of Minor Planets''. The 1927-discovered asteroid 3722 Urata is named after him.

List of discovered minor planets

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Urata, Takeshi 1947 births 2012 deaths Discoverers of asteroids Discoverers of comets * 20th-century Japanese astronomers