6025 Naotosato, provisional designation , is an Eoan
asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere.
...
from the outer region of the
asteroid belt
The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...
, approximately 19 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 30 December 1992, by Japanese astronomer
Takeshi Urata
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, Mizu ...
at the
Nihondaira Observatory
Nihondaira Observatory (also known as Oohira Station, Obs. code: 385) is an astronomical observatory that is located on a hill overlooking Shimizu, Japan. It has been the source for numerous discoveries of minor planet by astronomer Tak ...
in Oohira, Japan. The asteroid was named after Japanese amateur astronomer
Naoto Satō
is a Japanese amateur astronomer, discoverer of minor planets, and, by profession, a junior high school science teacher. As a planetarian, a member of the professional staff of a planetarium, he has done much for the spread of astronomy in Japan ...
.
Orbit and classification
''Naotosato'' is a member of the
Eos family The Eos family (''adj. Eoan'' ; ) is a very large asteroid family located in the outer region of the asteroid belt. The family of K-type asteroids is believed to have formed as a result of an ancient catastrophic collision. The family's parent body ...
(), the largest
asteroid family
An asteroid family is a population of asteroids that share similar proper orbital elements, such as semimajor axis, eccentricity, and orbital inclination. The members of the families are thought to be fragments of past asteroid collisions. An a ...