Asteroid named after HK astronomer

An asteroid has been named after a 66-year-old former Hong Kong stargazer.

Asteroid Liu was named in honour of Joseph Liu Hing-chai, founder and first curator of the Hong Kong Space Museum, after approval from the International Astronomical Union.

A Provisional Urban Council spokesman said that among the celestial bodies, only asteroids and comets could be named by their discoverers.

Japanese astronomers K. Endate and K. Wantanabe discovered Asteroid 6743 (1994GS) on April 8, 1994 and later proposed it be named after Mr Liu.

In the early 1970s, Mr Liu built a private observatory with a self-designed reflecting telescope in the back garden of his New Territories home. He earned a reputation for a series of stunning lunar and planetary photographs.

In 1977, he won first and third prizes in an astro-photography competition held by the Astronomical League in the US. Five years later, he won the Chiro Astronomical Award in Japan.