In 1978 he became the first amateur to discover a minor planet (2090 Mizuho) in over fifty years, which he named after his daughter, Mizuho.[3] His pioneering feat led to an upsurge in such discoveries. In the ten years that followed, amateurs from Japan discovered 160 minor planets.[4][5] Urata shared his observation data with peer astronomers in Japan on a periodical called "Tenkai" (the Heavens),[6][7][8][9][10] as well as contributed to academic journals such asAdvances in Space Research[11] and participated in poster presentations at astronomical conferences.[12]
Urata co-discovered the periodic comet112P/Urata-Niijima in 1986. One of the most active amateur astronomers in Japan, he was also an editor of the JapaneseEphemerides of Minor Planets. The 1927-discovered asteroid3722 Urata is named after him.[13]
^Kosai, H.; Urata, T. & Nakamura, T. "Activities of Asteroid Studies by Amateur Astronomers in Japan".Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series. Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series.Seventy-five (75) years of Hirayama asteroid families: The role of collisions in the solar system history. Vol. 63. Sagamihara near Tokyo, Japan; San Francisco.Bibcode:1994ASPC...63..297K.
^Urata, Takeshi (1966)."キルストン彗星の写真" [Kilston comet on photographs].天界 Tenkai (The Heavens) (in Japanese).47 (497):275–276.ISSN0287-6906.
^Urata, Takeshi (1979)."1970LDの近日点軌道も役立ちました" [Data sourced from the perihelion orbital of 1970LD].天界 Tenkai (The Heavens) (in Japanese).60 (652):235–237.
^Hasegawa, Ichirō; Urata, Takeshi (1980)."小惑星の絶対光度の統計" [The statistics of asteroid absolute luminosity].天界 Tenkai (The Heavens) (in Japanese).60 (655):324–326.
^Urata, Takeshi (1980)."ランダム・ドット・ステレオグラムと小惑星" [Asteroid and random dot stereogram].天界 Tenkai (The Heavens) (in Japanese).74 (818):324–326.
^Urata, Takeshi (1994)."私のCCD観測事始め" [Why I finally applied CCD to observation].天文月報 Tenmon Geppō (in Japanese).87 (2):67–72.
^"A new 1 m telescope for space debris survey observations".Advances in Space Research. Vol. 34, Iss. 5, 2004, pp 917–920
^Urata, Takeshi; Urakawa, Seitarō; Okumura, Shin'ichirō; Nishiyama, Kouta (1994). "美星スペースガードセンターにおける小惑星観測" [Asteroid observation at Bisei Space Guard Center].Autumn 2007 Proceedings.2 (87). contributors include Tsuyoshi Sakamoto, Atsuo Asami, Tuguyasu Hashimoto, Noritsugu Takahashi, Makoto Yoshikawa, sponsored by Japan Spaceguard Association, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA):67–72.doi:10.14909/jsps.2007f.0.109.0.
