I wrote previously (twice) on the Japanese COIAS Program (Come On! Impacting ASteroids) and its connection to the manga/TV show Asteroid in Love (Koisuru Asteroido in Japanese, abbreviated Koi As). Now I write again, courtesy of the IAU’s Working Group, Small Bodies Nomenclature. From the WGSBN Bulletin Volume 4, #16 (25 Nov 2024), two new names:
(718492) Quro = 2017 FZ233
Discovery: 2017-03-22 / COIAS * / Maunakea / T09
Quro (b. 1985) is a Japanese manga artist who created the comic Asteroid in Love. Real astronomical events and institutes appear in the work as models. Thanks to “Chura Ken,” an event held on Ishigakijima Island, finding new asteroids and astronomical phenomena has become popular among young students, giving them real research experiences.
(719612) Hoshizaki = 2019 UW 157
Discovery: 2019-10-27 / COIAS * / Maunakea / T09
Hoshizaki is a fictional high school in the Japanese comic AiL created by Quro. The main characters have a dream of discovering asteroids. Through Earth Science Club activities at the school, they meet like-minded friends and experts for asteroid searching, making their dream come true. Finally, they named an asteroid they discovered Hoshizaki.
* * *
To recap: COIAS is an effort to find asteroids, by having interested enthusiasts look through the many pictures that come in on clear nights. The Subaru Telescope’s HSC (Hyper Suprime-Cam) covers a wide field, and by chance asteroids enter that field. The asteroids exist, if only we would spot them. These enthusiasts choose to spend their free time spotting them, via the COIAS web platform serving HSC images. This, in a vague sense, is what the fictional students of the show Koi As seek: a chance to make a mark by spotting something new. Hence the name COIAS.
Good luck, COIAS team, and congrats on the recognition!