(6873) Tasaka Main-belt Asteroid

Discovered on 21 April 1993 by Endate, K., Watanabe, K. at Kitami.

Named in honor of Ichiro Tasaka (b. 1929), Japanese farmer, Mars observer and astronomical optician. He has made hundreds of precision telescope mirrors currently being used both by observatories and amateur astronomers. He operates a tourist house that has an observatory. Its main telescope is a 0.73-m equatorial reflector, both the optical and mechanical parts of which were made by Tasaka himself. Name proposed by the discoverers following a suggestion by T. Sato and A. Fujii.Naming citation (19980808/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL

Where Tasaka is today

Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Tasaka is 2.40 au from the Sun and 1.48 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.

Facts

Number	6873
Provisional designation	1993 HT1
Orbit class	Main-belt Asteroid
Diameter	3.88 km (#13,022 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size)
Albedo	0.322
Absolute magnitude (H)	14.11
Orbital period	3.20 years
Semi-major axis	2.17 au
Perihelion – aphelion	1.87 – 2.47 au
Eccentricity	0.137
Inclination	4.79°
Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID)	0.866 au

Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.

Also named after someone called Ichiro

All asteroids named after someone called Ichiro

More named asteroids discovered by Endate, K., Watanabe, K.

All 535

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