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January 2004

• January 25 The temperature inside the dome plummeted to nearly 0°. There was no sign of life around the observatory in this freezing "hell"; only an awesome winter starry sky and a world of icy landscapes exist. I persevered from the evening to 4 o'clock in the morning. Part of national highways are impassable due to snow. Though rare in winter, seeing is excellent. Comets of 20th magnitude are targeted every night. The Comet Handbook for 2004 is now complete. We will soon start mailing a copy to subscribers. I added my comet discovery stories in spare pages. A visual discovery of a comet...it is a human drama of those who passionately love the stars. • January 21 I came to the observatory in the evening. I targeted P/2004 A1(LINEAR), the first comet for this year, C/2003 V1, and others. C/2003 V1 was not possible to track without a good ephemeride. Perhaps it had become a little fainter. As for Comet Haneda-Campos of 1978, it is near perihelion but has not appeared yet. The temperature inside the dome was about 1°C and I felt my body frozen after 5 hours of observing. I really admire people who are observing out in the field. This cold reminded me of those days when I had been searching for comets in the 1950s while fighting the intense cold. The temperature hit -7.5°! Kochi City seems to record the lowest temperatures in Shikoku. In spite of this, the stars are stunningly beautiful on freezingly cold nights. • January 3 The first time in many days I walked south for about 5 kilometers from home and climbed Mt. Washioyama rising high in the south. I was able to see Uradowan Bay and the expanse of the Pacific Ocean below. It was a magnificent view. I followed Comet Seki-Lines with Mr. Koichi Ike at Mt. Washioyama (Minor Planet 7274) in April 1962. Forty-two years have passed since! I kept on walking silently along the mountain roads staring at the shadow of myself who is still following comets and I was pondering on my life Mr. Ike, a stargazer friend of mine in those days, has moved to Chiba City and lives in unfamiliar surroundings. There are only few stargazer friends left of his and my generation. However, he had his name Ike given to Minor Planet 21022 this January. Incidentally, Mr. Ike is the first person who had successfully received television pictures in Kochi during a period between 1945 and 1955. He is also one of the first hams (amateur radio operators) in Japan. Since the discovery of Comet Okabayashi-Honda in 1940, he has searched for comets for almost half a century, but he hasn't been lucky enough to discover one. While walking the rugged mountain path, I found Mr. Ike with a soldier's cap on coming from the opposite direction. Looking at him closely, I found him a wrong person, though he resembled Mr. Ike. "Hi, how are you doing?" His spirited voice refreshingly faded in the wind.
At the summit of Mt. Washioyama The shadow of myself who is still following comets.
• January 1 A Happy New Year! This was a peaceful, happy new year's day. I started observing at Geisei on the evening of the new year's day by the 60cm telescope. This year I aspire not only to observe known comets but to make discoveries. I saw a lot of cars moving to the east along the highway, 2km south of the observatory, from the new year's eve to the pre-dawn morning of the new year's day (Photo 1). These cars were heading for beautiful Cape Muroto-Misaki for worshipping the first sunrise of the year. Ms. Michi Minetomo, one of the visitors to the Cape, sent me the photo (Photo 2) below of a rare "Dharma-doll"-shaped sun at the first sunrise of the year, which had been taken at Cape Oyama-Misaki in Aki City on the evening of January 3. ()For an explanation on the dharma doll, try the following site: http://www.fightingarts.com/learning/history_subjects/ bodhid2.shtml
Photo 1: A view of National Highway 55 seen from the observatory Photo 2: A Dharma-doll-shaped sun Photo by Ms. Michi Minetomo

• January 25
The temperature inside the dome plummeted to nearly 0°. There was no sign of life around the observatory in this freezing "hell"; only an awesome winter starry sky and a world of icy landscapes exist. I persevered from the evening to 4 o'clock in the morning. Part of national highways are impassable due to snow. Though rare in winter, seeing is excellent. Comets of 20th magnitude are targeted every night.
The Comet Handbook for 2004 is now complete. We will soon start mailing a copy to subscribers. I added my comet discovery stories in spare pages. A visual discovery of a comet...it is a human drama of those who passionately love the stars.

• January 21
I came to the observatory in the evening. I targeted P/2004 A1(LINEAR), the first comet for this year, C/2003 V1, and others. C/2003 V1 was not possible to track without a good ephemeride. Perhaps it had become a little fainter.
As for Comet Haneda-Campos of 1978, it is near perihelion but has not appeared yet.
The temperature inside the dome was about 1°C and I felt my body frozen after 5 hours of observing. I really admire people who are observing out in the field. This cold reminded me of those days when I had been searching for comets in the 1950s while fighting the intense cold. The temperature hit -7.5°! Kochi City seems to record the lowest temperatures in Shikoku.
In spite of this, the stars are stunningly beautiful on freezingly cold nights.

• January 3
The first time in many days I walked south for about 5 kilometers from home and climbed Mt. Washioyama rising high in the south. I was able to see Uradowan Bay and the expanse of the Pacific Ocean below. It was a magnificent view. I followed Comet Seki-Lines with Mr. Koichi Ike at Mt. Washioyama (Minor Planet 7274) in April 1962. Forty-two years have passed since! I kept on walking silently along the mountain roads staring at the shadow of myself who is still following comets and I was pondering on my life
Mr. Ike, a stargazer friend of mine in those days, has moved to Chiba City and lives in unfamiliar surroundings. There are only few stargazer friends left of his and my generation. However, he had his name Ike given to Minor Planet 21022 this January. Incidentally, Mr. Ike is the first person who had successfully received television pictures in Kochi during a period between 1945 and 1955. He is also one of the first hams (amateur radio operators) in Japan. Since the discovery of Comet Okabayashi-Honda in 1940, he has searched for comets for almost half a century, but he hasn't been lucky enough to discover one.
While walking the rugged mountain path, I found Mr. Ike with a soldier's cap on coming from the opposite direction. Looking at him closely, I found him a wrong person, though he resembled Mr. Ike. "Hi, how are you doing?" His spirited voice refreshingly faded in the wind.

At the summit of Mt. Washioyama

The shadow of myself who is still following comets.

• January 1 A Happy New Year!
This was a peaceful, happy new year's day. I started observing at Geisei on the evening of the new year's day by the 60cm telescope. This year I aspire not only to observe known comets but to make discoveries.
I saw a lot of cars moving to the east along the highway, 2km south of the observatory, from the new year's eve to the pre-dawn morning of the new year's day (Photo 1). These cars were heading for beautiful Cape Muroto-Misaki for worshipping the first sunrise of the year. Ms. Michi Minetomo, one of the visitors to the Cape, sent me the photo (Photo 2) below of a rare "Dharma-doll*"-shaped sun at the first sunrise of the year, which had been taken at Cape Oyama-Misaki in Aki City on the evening of January 3.

(*)For an explanation on the dharma doll, try the following site:
http://www.fightingarts.com/learning/history_subjects/
bodhid2.shtml

Photo 1: A view of National Highway 55 seen from the observatory

Photo 2: A Dharma-doll-shaped sun
Photo by Ms. Michi Minetomo