[2011.06.17] AN ASTEROID IS NAMED TSUI HARK

courtesy of takungpao.com

Winning countless awards, famous Hong Kong director Tsui Hark earlier received the International Astronomical Union certificate to confirm that an asteroid that is 3.5 billion kilometers away from Earth has been named Tsui Hark in honor of his achievement. Tsui Hark was the first Hong Kong director to receive such a honor.

This asteroid was numbered 23258. 3.5 billion kilometers (3.3 astronomical units) from Earth, it was located between Mars and Saturn. Hong Kong astronomer Yeung Kwong Yu discovered it. This asteroid was found in 2000, later it was named Tsui Hark. However it required IAU permission to be officially named. Earlier Tsui Hark finally received the certificate.

Currently asteroids have been named after people in Hong Kong like Sir Run Run Shaw (Siu Yat Fu) and Louis Cha (Gum Yung), but Tsui Hark was the first Hong Kong director. Tsui Hark is working on the post production of the 3D wuxia film FLYING SWORDS OF DRAGON GATE (LUNG MOON FEI GAP). He said when he learned about it, he thought it was very wonderful to own an asteroid. Tsui Hark pointed when he was waiting for the certification he would occasionally thought about it. Sometimes he would think, "Maybe the asteroid moved and couldn't be found?" When he recently received the certificate he finally confirmed that it was still in space. Tsui Hark said, "If this star isn't too far, I would like to go and look around."

He also considered writing a story for this asteroid.