Gekko Observatory is an astronomical observatory located in the Shizuoka Prefecture

Shizuoka Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshu island. The capital is the city of Shizuoka.- History :Shizuoka prefecture was formed from the former Tōtōmi, Suruga and Izu provinces.The area was the home of the first Tokugawa Shogun...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. It was founded in 1957 and is owned by the International Foundation for Cultural Harmony. Between 1987 and 2000, the astronomers Yoshiaki Oshima

Yoshiaki Oshima

is a Japanese astronomer and prolific discoverer of asteroids.The asteroid 5592 Oshima is named after him.-Works:* Isobe, S., Atsuo, A., Asher, D., Fuse, T., Hashimoto, N., Nakano, S., K. Nishiyama, Y. Oshima, N. Takahashi, J. Terazono, H. Umehara, T. Urata, M. Yoshikawa...

 and Tetsuo Kagawa

Tetsuo Kagawa

is a Japanese astronomer.He is a prolific discoverer of asteroids. 6665 Kagawa, an asteroid, was named after him.-External links:*...

 discovered 172 minor planet

Minor planet

An asteroid group or minor-planet group is a population of minor planets that have a share broadly similar orbits. Members are generally unrelated to each other, unlike in an asteroid family, which often results from the break-up of a single asteroid...

s at this site. As of the year 2000, this observatory was ranked 40th in the world in terms of total asteroid discoveries.

Asteroid 4261 Gekko

4261 Gekko

4261 Gekko is a main-belt asteroid discovered on January 28, 1989 by Yoshiaki Oshima at Gekko.It was named after the observatory at which it was discovered. The name means "moonlight". The observatory was founded in 1957 and belongs to the International Foundation for Cultural Harmony.- External...

 is named after this observatory. The IAU

International Astronomical Union

The International Astronomical Union IAU is a collection of professional astronomers, at the Ph.D. level and beyond, active in professional research and education in astronomy...

code for this observatory is 888. The name of the observatory means "moonlight".