William Kwong Yu Yeung (born 1960; also known simply as Bill Yeung; ) is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

-born,

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

amateur

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

with

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observe ...

s based in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. He is a prolific discoverer of

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

s and also discovered the

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 ...

172P/Yeung. He also discovered the object

J002E3 J002E3 is an object in space discovered on September 3, 2002, by amateur astronomer Bill Yeung. Initially thought to be an asteroid, it has since been tentatively identified as the S-IVB third stage of the Apollo 12 Saturn V rocket (designa ...

, which was first thought to be an asteroid, but is now known to be part of a

Saturn V Saturn V is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon. The rocket was human-rated, with multistage rocket, three stages, and powered with liquid-propellant r ...

Rocket that propelled

Apollo 12 Apollo 12 (November 14–24, 1969) was the sixth crewed flight in the United States Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. It was launched on November 14, 1969, by NASA from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Commander Pete Conra ...

into space. He worked first from "Rock Finder Observatory" (IAU code

652 __NOTOC__ Year 652 ( DCLII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 652 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era be ...

) in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, and now works from

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

's Desert Beaver Observatory and

Desert Eagle Observatory Desert Eagle Observatory ( code: 333) is a private amateur astronomical observatory, situated near Benson, Arizona, United States. Operated by Canadian amateur astronomer William Kwong Yu Yeung, the observatory's primary purpose is the observat ...

Awards and honors

The outer main-belt asteroid 40776 Yeungkwongyu, discovered by astronomer

Roy Tucker Roy A. Tucker (born 1951 in Jackson, Mississippi) is an American astronomer best known for the co-discovery of near-Earth asteroid 99942 Apophis (formerly known as ) along with David J. Tholen and Fabrizio Bernardi of the University of Hawaii. ...

at Goodricke-Pigott Observatory () in 1999, was named in his honor. The official naming citation was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

on 9 June 2017 ().

List of discovered minor planets

Yeung is one of the most prolific

discoverers of minor planets This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 numb ...

, credited by the

with more than 2,000 numbered minor planets. The list below gives most of his discoveries in groups of 50 bodies, sorted by ascending number.

References

External links

Homepage (Desert Eagle Observatory)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeung, William Kwong Yu 1960 births 20th-century Canadian astronomers 21st-century Canadian astronomers Canadian expatriates in the United States Hong Kong scientists * Discoverers of asteroids Discoverers of comets Hong Kong emigrants to Canada Living people Naturalized citizens of Canada

Awards and honors

List of discovered minor planets

See also

References

External links