Yuji Hyakutake

Yuji Hyakutake (百武 裕司, Hyakutake Yūji; July 7, 1950, Shimabara, Nagasaki – April 10, 2002, Kokubu, Kagoshima) was a Japanese amateur astronomer who discovered Comet C/1996 B2, also known as Comet Hyakutake on January 31, 1996, while using 25×150 binoculars.

Yuji Hyakutake
Born	(1950-07-07)July 7, 1950 Shimabara, Nagasaki, Japan
Died	April 10, 2002(2002-04-10) (aged 51) Kokubu, Kagoshima, Japan
Nationality	Japanese

Hyakutake graduated from the Kyushu Sangyo University as a photography major and started working at a newspaper in Fukuoka.^[1] He first became interested in astronomy after seeing Comet Ikeya–Seki in 1965.^[2] He began searching for comets in 1989. In 1993, he moved to Hayato for because “the skies were much clearer there” and so he could better continue his search for comets.^[1] His first discovery was Comet C/1995 Y1, on December 26, 1995.^[3]

Hyakutake discovered C/1996 B2 while looking for C/1995 Y1, a comet he had discovered a few weeks before.^[4][5]

He died in Kokubu, Kagoshima, in 2002 at age 51 of an aneurysm which had led to internal bleeding.^[2]

Asteroid 7291 Hyakutake is named after him.^[6][7]