[What day is it today? | Tohoku Edition] What day is February 1st?

The day Tohoku (asteroid) was discovered

The asteroid Tohoku on February 1, 1997, by Naoto Sato , an amateur astronomer from Saitama Prefecture who is known for discovering numerous asteroids and naming them after the probes Hayabusa and Kaguya

After its discovery, "1997 CJ5" , but after the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, Sato named it "Tohoku" as a token of his condolences to the people of Tohoku. He applied for the name to the International Astronomical Union Minor Planet Center, which quickly approved it after only a month of review.

It also became a hot topic when it lined up with the sun and the Earth on March 11, 2012, one year after the earthquake

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