The Starwatcher

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https://www.science.org/content/article/amateur-astronomer-may-worlds-top-supernova-hunter

By Dennis Normile. 

Excerpt: Amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki is one of the most prolific supernova hunters of all time. ...he drove to his private observatory in the hills above his home in Yamagata, Japan, 290 kilometers north of Tokyo. ...SN 2023ixf is his 172nd supernova, a total topped only by U.S.-based Tim Puckett, whose private observatory in Georgia has bagged at least 360 supernovae with the help of a worldwide network of volunteers who manually examine his images. Itagaki, by contrast, works alone. He “is one of the most prolific supernova observers in the world,” says Andrew Howell, an astronomer at the University of California (UC), Santa Barbara.... 

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