Gao Xing (; born 1974) is a Chinese

amateur astronomer Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomers m ...

from

Ürümqi Ürümqi ( ; also spelled Ürümchi or without umlauts), formerly known as Dihua (also spelled Tihwa), is the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far northwest of the People's Republic of China. Ürümqi developed its ...

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. (Astronomers name: Gaoxing) He built Xingming Observatory (星明天文台) in 2006 and discovered Comet C/2008 C1 (Chen-Gao) on February 1, 2008 with Chen Tao from

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

and Comet P/2009 L2 (Yang-Gao) on June 15, 2009 with

Yang Rui Yang Rui (, born 2 May 1963) is a Chinese journalist, who formerly hosted the ''Dialogue'' talk show on CGTN. In addition to academics and China experts, Yang interviews a wide variety of opinion makers including prominent politicians, diplomats ...

from

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

and Comet C/2015 F5 (SWAN-Xingming) on April 4, 2015 with Guoyou Sun from

Wenzhou Wenzhou (pronounced ; Wenzhounese: Yuziou �y33–11 tɕiɤu33–32 ), historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province in the People's Republic of China. Wenzhou is located at the extreme south east o ...

(...?) and hence won the

Edgar Wilson Award __NOTOC__ The Edgar Wilson Award is an annual international award established in 1998 consisting of a monetary award and a plaque allocated annually to amateur comet discoverers. It is administered by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) ...

for 2008. (He won Edgar Wilson Award unter that for 2015 3 times.) In the night on February 26, 2009, he discovered a nova in Sagittarius in the

Galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...

's central part at night with his partner Sun Guoyou from

. Gao reported his new discovery to the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...

on May 29 and acquired the identification. On the night of October 3, 2010, he discovered a new supernova in NGC5430 at night with his partner Sun Guoyou. He also discovered several SOHO

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...

s and NEAT asteroids. Currently, he is working as a

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

teacher at the Urumqi No.1 High School. In 2017 he was awarded the Gordon Myers Amateur Achievement Award.

References

External links

Gao Xing's Homepage
Living people 1974 births Discoverers of comets Discoverers of supernovae Discoverers of minor planets Discoveries by Gao Xing 21st-century Chinese astronomers Amateur astronomers Chinese schoolteachers People from Ürümqi Educators from Xinjiang Scientists from Xinjiang {{astronomer-stub

See also

References

External links