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Biography
Atsushi Takahashi (高橋 篤史, Takahashi Atsushi, born 1965) is a Japanese amateur astronomer and discoverer of minor planets.
He lives in Kitami on the island of Hokkaidō in northern Japan, where he observes asteroids and comets at the Kitami Observatory (code 400). Takahashi is a member of the local astronomy club "Hokkaidō Suisei Shōwakusei Kaigi" (北海道彗星・小惑星会議, English: Conference for comets and asteroids Hokkaidō).
With his colleague Kazuro Watanabe, he is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the co-discovery of 22 minor planets between 1989 and 1991, including his lowest numbered discovery, the asteroid 4644 Oumu. Takahashi and Watanabe also discovered the inner main-belt asteroid 5214 Oozora in 1990, while working at Hokkaido Kitami Observatory. 5214 Oozora is named for Super Ōzora, the first express train in Hokkaidō.
At Watanabe's suggestion, the main-belt asteroid 4842 Atsushi, discovered by Seiji Ueda and Hiroshi Kaneda at Kushiro in 1989, was named in Takahashi's honor. Naming citation was published on 1 September 1993 (M.P.C. 22503).