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Kin Endate (円館 金, Endate Kin, born December 15, 1960) is a Japanese amateur astronomer who has discovered hundreds of asteroids, most of them in collaboration with Kazuro Watanabe, placing him among the most prolific discoverers of minor planets.

Career in astronomy

Kin Endate was born in Iwaizumi in Iwate Prefecture and went to Hokkaido Designers School to study photography. He began taking astrophotos in high school, but did not begin serious asteroid observations until 1986.

His notable discoveries include the minor planets 5648 Axius and 6500 Kodaira, a Jupiter trojan and the Mars-crosser, respectively. He also recorded the first known precovery images of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with his private 10-inch (25 cm) diameter telescope on March 15, 1993, ten days before the official discovery of the comet. Kin, who was looking specifically for asteroids, did not know of the comet in his images until after the official discovery.

Awards and honors

The main-belt asteroid 4282 Endate, discovered by his colleagues Seiji Ueda and Hiroshi Kaneda at Kushiro in 1987, was named in his honor. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 8 July 1990 (M.P.C. 16593).

List of discovered minor planets

Most asteroids were discovered by Kin Endate in collaboration with Kazuro Watanabe

See also

• List of minor planet discoverers § K. Endate

References

1. ^ "Minor Planet Discoverers (by number)". Minor Planet Center. 11 July 2018. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
2. Endate, Kin. The Monochromatic World Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
3. Spencer, John Robert and Mitton, Jacqueline. The Great Comet Crash. Cambridge University Press, 1995. P. 13-14
4. D/1993 F2 Shoemaker-Levy 9 Cometography. Retrieved 16 Jan 2010.
5. Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). "(4282) Endate". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (4282) Endate. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 367. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_4242. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.
6. "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 10 August 2016.

• 1960 births
• Discoverers of asteroids
• Discoveries by Kin Endate
• 20th-century Japanese astronomers
• Living people
• 21st-century Japanese astronomers