A newly-discovered comet has been named after Dr Zhao Haibin, the Chinese astronomer who discovered the object in the constellation Cetus in mid-September The comet P/2007 S1 (ZHAO) has an orbital period of 7.46 years and an eccentricity of 0.344. Dr Zhao Haibin leads an NEO (Near Earth Object) research team at the Zijinshan Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences based in the eastern city of Nanjing. The comet, marks the fifth one discovered by the Zijinshan Astronomical Observatory.
Haibin Zhao (Purple Mountain Observatory, XuYi Station) discovered on September 17, 2007 a new magnitude 18 comet on CCD images obtained with the 1.04 metre, f/1.8 Schmidt telescope. The object was confirmed by observations of LONEOS from the 8 to 15 September 2007 by Tim Spahr. Preliminary orbital elements of the comet P/2007 S1 (Zhao) indicate a perihelion passage on December 10, 2007 at a distance of 2.5 AU, and a 7.46 years period.