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Minor planets discovered: 642 <ref name="MPC-Discoverers" />
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Template:Nihongo<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> was a Japanese astronomer. He was a prolific discoverer of asteroids, observing at Nihondaira Observatory.

In 1978 he became the first amateur to discover a minor planet (2090 Mizuho) in over fifty years, which he named after his daughter, Mizuho.<ref name="springer-Mizuho" /> His pioneering feat led to an upsurge in such discoveries. In the ten years that followed, amateurs from Japan discovered 160 minor planets.<ref>Template:Cite conference</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Urata shared his observation data with peer astronomers in Japan on a periodical called "Tenkai" (the Heavens),<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> as well as contributed to academic journals such as Advances in Space Research<ref>"A new 1 m telescope for space debris survey observations". Advances in Space Research. Vol. 34, Iss. 5, 2004, pp 917–920</ref> and participated in poster presentations at astronomical conferences.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Urata co-discovered the periodic comet 112P/Urata-Niijima in 1986. One of the most active amateur astronomers in Japan, he was also an editor of the Japanese Ephemerides of Minor Planets. The 1927-discovered asteroid 3722 Urata is named after him.<ref name="dmp">Template:Cite book</ref>

List of discovered minor planetsEdit

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