Gekkō Observatory
Coordinates: 35 ° 7 ′ 42.7 ″ N , 138 ° 59 ′ 32.6 ″ E
The Gekkō Observatory ( Japanese 月光 天文台 , Gekkō temmondai ) is an astronomical observatory in Kannami in Shizuoka Prefecture on the island of Honshū in Japan and has the IAU code 888. The name of the observatory means moonlight . It was founded in 1957 and is owned by the Foundation ( zaidan-hōjin ) Kokusai Bunka Kōyūkai ( 国際 文化 交友 会 , English International Foundation for Cultural Harmony ). Between 1987 and 2000 the astronomers Yoshiaki Ōshima and Tetsuo Kagawa discovered 172 asteroids from here . As of January 30, 2010, the observatory ranks 49th in the list of total asteroid discoveries worldwide.
The observatory is the namesake of the asteroid (4261) Gekko discovered by the Japanese astronomer Yoshiaki Ōshima .