Kinmen:An asteroid discovered by researchers from Taiwan and the United States has been named after Kinmen, as announced by the Kinmen National Park Administration.
According to Focus Taiwan, the asteroid, identified as 755922, was discovered by Lin Hung-chin, director of the National Central University's Lulin Observatory, alongside Ye Quanzhi from the University of Maryland. Lin explained that discoverers have the privilege to propose names for the celestial bodies they identify. While many of Taiwan's counties and cities have already been represented among asteroids discovered by the Lulin Observatory, Kinmen and its neighboring Matsu were not previously included.
NCU noted that the asteroid is approximately 1 kilometer in diameter and travels in the asteroid belt situated between Mars and Jupiter. It completes an orbit around the sun roughly every 3.61 years, covering a distance between about 269 million and 438 million kilometers from the sun.
Since 2006, when NCU initiated its program focused on searching for near-Earth objects, over 800 asteroids have been discovered. The naming of these asteroids helps to highlight Taiwan's landscapes, culture, and scientific achievements on the global stage.
