Masaru Arai

Minor planets discovered: 45 [1]
see § List of discovered minor planets

Masaru Arai (新井 優, Arai Masaru, born 1952) is a Japanese amateur astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets and comets.[2]

He is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of 45 minor planets during 1988–1991, all in collaboration with astronomer Hiroshi Mori.[1] On 5 January 1991, he has also discovered Comet Arai, C/1991 A2.[3][4]

The main-belt asteroid 21082 Araimasaru, discovered by Tsutomu Hioki and Shuji Hayakawa at Okutama in 1991, was named in his honor.[2] Naming citation was published on 6 January 2003 (M.P.C. 47301).[5]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference MPC-Discoverers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference springer was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference jpldata was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ British Astronomical Association (2008). British Astronomical Association circular.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference MPC-Circulars-Archive was invoked but never defined (see the help page).