Asteroid named ‘Taipei’ to honor city’s contribution

By Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter





Taipei has been memorialized in the heavens after a newly discovered asteroid was named after the city yesterday.

“The asteroid 171381 discovered on July 22, 2006, is to be named ‘Taipei’ to honor the city for its contribution to astronomical research and education,” said Chou Ching-yang (周景揚), the president of National Central University, whose astronomers discovered the asteroid, which was officially designated as a newly discovered minor planet by the International Astronomical Union on Sept. 9.

Overall, National Central University has discovered more than 700 asteroids, Chou said. However, he added that only 27 of these asteroids have been officially recognized and named. The astronomer who discovered asteroid 171381, Lin Hung-chin (林宏欽), said the process of verifying newly discovered asteroids takes years because of the difficulty of precisely measuring and pinning down their orbits.

National Central University president Chou Ching-yang, second right, hands a representation of asteroid 171381, which has been named “Taipei” in recognition of the city’s contribution to astronomical research and education, to Taipei Deputy Mayor Timothy Ting, third right, at a ceremony in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Hsieh Chia-chun, Taipei Times

The asteroid is the 10th named by the university to have a Taiwanese place name. It has an area of between 2km2 and 5km2 and is located about 500 million kilometers from the sun between Mars and Jupiter. Because the asteroid takes roughly 5.16 years to orbit the sun, it is visible from Earth only once a year, Lin said. He added that because of its small size, the asteroid can be seen only through powerful telescopes.