[vsnet-alert 7493] Asteroid (40409)-1999 RS2 named "Taichikato"

[Gianluca Masi <gianmasi@fr.flashnet.it>]

Dear Friends and Colleagues,
it is with great pleasure that I annouce to the VSNET community that the
Committee for Small Body Nomenclature (CSBN) of the International
Astronomical Union has finally accepted my proposal to name the asteroid
1999 RS2, which I discovered on 6 Sept. 1999, after Dr. Taichi Kato,
Kyoto University. 

My proposal to the CSBN through the Minor Planet Center was motivated by
the the impressive work Dr. Kato is doing to keep the VSNET system at
the excellent level we all know very well and to promote many amazing
international campaigns. I've been able to start my activities in this
field after joining the VSNET community and after several years it is
always a pleasure to share the wonders of those marvelous objects
"flashing" out there.

Those of you who want to see the discovery images can enter the url:

http://vsnet.bellatrixobservatory.org/astei.html#1999rs2


Here is the proposal I've sent to the MPC earlier this year:

Taichikato   40409   Taichi Kato, Japanese astronomer

(40409) Taichikato = 1999 RS
Discovered 1999 sept. 06 by G. Masi at Ceccano.
Taichi Kato is a very active researcher in astronomy, at Kyoto
University, mainly in the field of cataclysmic variables. Together with
many 
scientific credits, Dr. Kato is dedicating many energies to the VSNET
system,a
network devoted to variable stars, which often succeed in alerting
observers
about important phenomena, with very successful follow-up. 


The orbital element of "Taichikato" are the following ones:

40409) Taichikato 

Epoch 2002 Nov. 22.0 TT = JDT 2452600.5                 MPC
M 314.55344              (2000.0)            P               Q
n   0.25714056     Peri.  205.10411     +0.77392558     +0.63085362
a   2.4491892      Node   115.66894     -0.57016546     +0.73216341
e   0.2082460      Incl.    3.52037     -0.27559127     +0.25682768
P   3.83           H   15.6           G   0.15           U   2
From 94 observations at 6 oppositions, 1994-2002, mean residual 0".77.



I wish to thank Makoto Uemura and Ryoko Ishioka for their collaboration.


Congratulation Taichi! 

Sincerely,
Gianluca


Ps: I apologize for sending this note to vsnet-alert too, but I've
tought that all the members were interested to know about this award.


-- 
***********************************************************************
* Gianluca Masi                           "Two things fill the soul   *
* Via Madonna de Loco, 47               with awe and reverence [...]: *
* 03023 Ceccano (FR)                     the starry sky above me and  *
* ITALY                                    the moral law within me"   *
* e-mail: gianmasi@fr.flashnet.it                                     *
* web:  http://vsnet.bellatrixobservatory.org             I. Kant       *
* Minor Planet Center Obs. Code: 470 - Ceccano                        *
* Center for Backyard Astrophysics - Italy                            *
* VSNET Collaboration Team member                                     *
* CCD-astrometry-photometry@egroup.com mailing-list moderator         *
***********************************************************************

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