Discoverers name asteroid after Kinmen

Taipei, Oct. 16 (CNA) An asteroid discovered by researchers in Taiwan and the United States has been named after Kinmen, the Kinmen National Park Administration said Friday.

The asteroid, also known by its number 755922, was discovered by Lin Hung-chin (林宏欽), director of National Central University's (NCU) Lulin Observatory, and Ye Quanzhi (葉泉志) of the University of Maryland, according to NCU.

In an interview with CNA, Lin said asteroid discoverers can propose names for the objects they find. While most of Taiwan's counties and cities have already been represented among asteroids discovered by the Lulin Observatory, Kinmen and neighboring Matsu have not.

According to NCU, the asteroid is about 1 kilometer in diameter and orbits the sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. It takes about 3.61 years to complete one orbit and travels between about 269 million and 438 million kilometers from the sun.

NCU said it has discovered more than 800 asteroids since launching a program to search for near-Earth objects in 2006, with their names helping bring Taiwan's landscapes, culture and scientific achievements to international attention.