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 * ***********************************************************************