A HONG KONG secondary school student discovered Tuesday (Nov 1) that a minor planet had been named after him.

Chan Yik-hei's name was put forward after he came second last year in the engineering category of the 55th Intel International Science and Engineering Competition for his project, the South China Morning Post reported. The 15-year-old developed a multifunctional robot, called Total Equip, for domestic security.

Chan, a Form Five student at the C.C.C. Tam Lee Lai Fun Memorial Secondary School, was among a group of winners in three science competitions chosen to be considered in a scheme to name celestial bodies. The names were put forward by Ceres Connection, an education program run by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory and Science Service, and the final selection was made by an international panel.

Minor planet number 20780, now known as "Chanyikhei," measures 3-7km in diameter and is in a group of minor planets between Jupiter and Mars. Minor planets are bodies orbiting the sun that are larger than meteoroids but smaller than the major planets. The planet, discovered by the institute's Near-Earth Asteroid Research program in September 2000, takes about 4.05 years to orbit the sun.

After a planet is discovered, it receives a permanent number. The discoverer has 10 years to propose a name. Once the name is proposed, the International Committee for Small-Body Nomenclature must judge and approve the name.

Editor: Wing