Living with Comets: Tsuruhiko Kiuchi@Nagano / Summer 1996
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Swift-Tuttle comet and Kiuchi to meet in approximately 3,152,100,000 km.

Star map.
November 1, 1983 Kiuchi commences comet-watching.

"Following my close shave with death, I desperately wanted to search for comets. I found that searching comets is like searching for myself."

"I search for comets because I want to learn about the current state of the earth and the solar system. It is how I am. By searching for comets, I can understand the force of gravity.
It is like putting together the pieces of a puzzle."

"That's right. Wishing desperately to learn about the solar system, I grew to remember the positions of the stars. By drawing constellation maps, it all remained in my head, and I sketched to make sure. It is all in my head, in three dimensions."

"I always do sketches. With astronomy, objectivity is most important. Photographs alone are not objective, due to such factors and noise and dirt. If you see something with your own eyes, you can conclude that it is objective. That's why I emphasize sketching."