Named in honor of Hiroshi Kuratani (b. 1934), astronomer and educator at Toyama Observatory since 1956. He played an important role in establishing Toyama Science Museum, which opened in 1979 and from which he retired in 1998. In the 1960s he was a pioneer in improving observational techniques, such as the application of TV and development of cooled emulsion cameras. Currently he is developing a new generation space simulator. Name proposed by the discoverers following a suggestion by T. Sato and A. Fujii.