Kaoru Ikeya

Kaoru Ikeya (池谷 薫, Ikeya Kaoru, born 1943)[1] is a Japanese amateur astronomer[2] who discovered a number of comets.

As a young adult, Ikeya lived near Lake Hamana and worked for a piano factory. During his employment there, he made his first discovery in 1963 with an optical telescope he built himself within his low budget.[3] Two years later, he discovered the bright comet C/1965 S1 (Ikeya-Seki). Ikeya discovered the periodic comet 153P/Ikeya-Zhang on February 1, 2002, in Mori, Hokkaidō.[4][5] The asteroid 4037 Ikeya is also named after Ikeya. On November 13, 2010, Ikeya and Shigeki Murakami co-discovered the comet P/2010 V1, now known as 332P/Ikeya-Murakami, using an optical telescope, rare in an era with access to digital imaging technology.[2]

Ikeya contributed his skill to the perfectly ground optics used in the construction of the Pentax 40 cm Cassegrain reflector telescope installed at the Singapore Science Centre Observatory in March, 1989.[6]

  1. ^ David J. Eicher, Comets!: Visitors from Deep Space (Cambridge University Press, 2013) p72
  2. ^ a b "Ikeya-Murakami: The New Comet on the Cosmic Block". NASA. November 17, 2010. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  3. ^ "Astronomy: Splendor in the Night". Time. October 22, 1965. Archived from the original on December 3, 2011. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  4. ^ "2002 Comet Awards Announced". Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. July 1, 2002. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  5. ^ Nemiroff, R.; Bonnell, J., eds. (21 February 2002). "Comet Ikeya-Zhang". Astronomy Picture of the Day. NASA. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  6. ^ Chong, S. M. (Siew Meng), 1950- (2002), Photographic atlas of the moon, Lim, Albert (Albert Chee Hoon), 1959-, Ang, P. S. (Poon Seng), 1960-, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780511158155, OCLC 905960714{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)