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During this the International Year of Astronomy, an asteroid has been named for an Honorary Member of LVAS. Yukihito Koga visited LVAS and spent a couple of days observing with John Boron and Rob Lambert back in February 2009 and in the spirit of the International Year of Astronomy, we made him an Honorary Member of our Society. Several prominent individuals in the Japanese Astronomical Community were involved in the naming of the asteroid. Yoshihiro Yamada (asteroid 5915 Yoshihiro), the first President of the Fukuoka Astronomical Society, made the suggestion to Masanori Hirai (asteroid 9333 Hiraimasa), Professor at Fukuoka University of Education, who then approached the asteroids's discoverer. Kazuro Watanabe (asteroid 4155 Watanabe), who is responsible for the discovery of over 800 asteroids, suggested to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) to name asteroid 17516 after Yukihito, in recognition of his contributions to astronomy. The IAU approved and named the asteroid 17516 Kogayukihito in October 2009. 
Yukihito is the executive announcer at the broadcasting station in Fukuoka, Japan and anchor person in Kyushu. He is a well known amateur astronomer with primary interests in comets, meteors, solar eclipses, and deep space observation. As a TV announcer, Yukihito has covered a number of noted astronomical events, some of which include Halley's comet in '86, a gold ring eclipse in Okinawa in '87, the total eclipse of the Sun in Mexico in '91, the comet Hyakutake in '96, Hale Bopp in '97, Jupiter's apogee in '01, Saturn's apogee in '02, and comet Holmes' outburst in '07. He is also very active in education outreach at local elementary schools. The LVAS joins the rest of the world astronomical community in celebrating this honoring of Yukihito Koga. Congratulations Yukihito. We hope to see you again soon. |
