Kitami Observatory, Astronomical observatory in Kitami, Japan.
Kitami Observatory is an astronomical observatory housed in the Kitami-Abashiri Region Cultural Centre in eastern Hokkaidō, Japan. Its observatory code is 400. The facility operates a 20-cm telescope used for searching for new asteroids and for astrometry of asteroids and comets.
Kitami Observatory was founded in 1987 in Kitami, Japan, as part of the Kitami regional museum of science, history and art, whose complex also houses a planetarium. Amateur astronomers Atsushi Takahashi and Kazuro Watanabe worked here, and between 1987 and 2008 the site recorded 668 asteroid discoveries. Its observatory code is 400.
The observatory is part of the Kitami regional museum of science, history and art, which also houses a planetarium in the same complex. Amateur astronomers Atsushi Takahashi and Kazuro Watanabe worked here, and the facility's name appears in the discovery credits of asteroids they found.
The observatory sits inside the Kitami-Abashiri Region Cultural Centre, which also houses a planetarium and the regional museum of science, history and art. Its instrument is a 20-cm telescope, used for searching new asteroids and for astrometry of asteroids and comets. Look for the facility within the cultural centre complex in Kitami, eastern Hokkaidō.
Researchers here have identified and registered around 680 asteroids through 2012, demonstrating how productive the work has been over the decades. These discoveries have contributed meaningfully to our understanding of the solar system.
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