In August, the International Astronomical Union's Committee on Small Body Nomenclature - an international organization responsible for the naming of asteroids and comets - formally approved the designation and gave Tsai's discovery a permanent number "215080." It was the first asteroid discovered by an amateur Taiwanese astronomy buff to have won international recognition.
Taiwanese amateur astronomer discovers new asteroid
An amateur astronomer who discovered an asteroid earlier this year presented a model of his new discovery to Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu Monday to share it with all residents of the southern Taiwan port city. Tsai Yuan-sheng discovered the asteroid along with an assistant at the Lulin Observatory on Yushan, also known as Jade Mountain, March 20 and tentatively named it "Kaohsiung" after his hometown. Read more