is a Japanese

amateur astronomer Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomers m ...

and

discoverer of minor planets This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 num ...

and

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

s, born in Kōchi, Japan.

Career

Tsutomu Seki is the Director of the Geisei Observatory in Kōchi, and in charge of the Comet Section of the Oriental Astronomical Association. Between 1961 and 1970, he had visually discovered six

s, including C/1965 S1 (Ikeya-Seki), the well known

great comet A great comet is a comet that becomes exceptionally bright. There is no official definition; often the term is attached to comets such as Halley's Comet, which during certain appearances are bright enough to be noticed by casual observers who ar ...

of 1965. He has also discovered a large number 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 such as 13553 Masaakikoyama and 5209 Oloosson, a near-Earth

Amor asteroid The Amor asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids named after the archetype object 1221 Amor . The orbital perihelion of these objects is close to, but greater than, the orbital aphelion of Earth (i.e., the objects do not cross Earth's orbit ...

and a

Jupiter trojan The Jupiter trojans, commonly called trojan asteroids or simply trojans, are a large group of asteroids that share the planet Jupiter's orbit around the Sun. Relative to Jupiter, each Trojan (celestial body), trojan Libration point orbit, librat ...

, respectively. Many of his discoveries are named after famous sites in Kōchi, such as Harimaya-bashi, Ryōma (after

Sakamoto Ryōma was a Japanese ''samurai'', a '' shishi'' and influential figure of the ''Bakumatsu,'' and establishment of the Empire of Japan in the late Edo period. Sakamoto was a low-ranking ''samurai'' from the Tosa Domain on Shikoku and became an acti ...

), Katsurahama beach, and Kagami-gawa.

Awards and honors

Asteroid 3426 Seki, discovered by

Karl Reinmuth Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth (4 April 1892 in Heidelberg – 6 May 1979 in Heidelberg) was a German astronomer and a prolific discoverer of 395 minor planets. Scientific career From 1912 to 1957, Reinmuth was working as an astronomer at the He ...

at the

Heidelberg Observatory Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

in 1932, was named in his honor. The official naming citation was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Funct ...

on 16 December 1986 ().

List of discovered minor planets

References

External links

Tsutomu Seki homepage

recognized as of August 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Seki, Tsutomu Discoverers of comets 1930 births Living people 20th-century Japanese astronomers Discoverers of asteroids People from Kōchi, Kōchi Scientists from Kōchi Prefecture

Career

Awards and honors

List of discovered minor planets

See also

References

External links