China Scene: West

Teacher discovers new star with his observatory

A high school teacher in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, became the first person to locate an undiscovered star in the galaxy.

Gao Xing, senior teacher at the Urumqi No 1 high school, built his own observatory on a mountain outside the city in 2007. He found a new star in Sagittarius in the Galaxy's central part on Feb 26 at night with his partner Sun Guoyou. Gao reported his new discovery to the International Astronomical Union on May 29 and got the identification.