Taiwan Today

National Central University announced July 14 it has formally designated a planetoid that it discovered in 2007 “Yushan,” after Taiwan’s highest mountain. The planetoid was discovered Dec. 28, 2007, by Lin Chih-sheng, an assistant with NCU’s Lulin Observatory, and Ye Quanzhi, a student of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China. The International Astronomical Union’s Committee for Small Body Nomenclature has confirmed the discovery and given the two universities the right to number and name the planetoid. It is the first planetoid to be named after a Taiwanese mountain. NCU Vice President Liu Gin-rong said in a July 14 press conference that since the university launched the “Lulin Sky Survey” from its Lulin Observatory, located within Yushan National Park, in 2006, it has discovered more than 800 asteroids. “This has made us the most active country in asteroid discovery,” Liu said. To highlight the importance of Yushan for Taiwan’s astronomical research, he said, “we decided to name asteroid No. 185546 ‘Yushan.’” NCU officials explained that they proposed the name to the IAU in April, and the proposal passed review in June. Officials hoped the naming would help promote Yushan in the online competition for the New Seven Wonders of the World, sponsored by the Zurich-based New7Wonders Foundation, which aims to document world heritage. “The naming process, with international certification, should make the New Seven Wonders’ panel of experts more familiar with Yushan,” said Chen Long-sheng, director of Yushan National Park Headquarters. Interior Minister Liao Liao-yi, who also attended the press conference, urged the public to continue to support the mountain so that it can make the list of 28 finalists for the New Seven Wonders.(PCT-THN)