Stephen P. Laurie is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 amateur astronomer

Astronomer

An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...

. He is a prolific discoverer of asteroid

Asteroid

Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

s and comet

Comet

A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...

s, although his profession is that of an actuary

Actuary

An actuary is a business professional who deals with the financial impact of risk and uncertainty. Actuaries provide expert assessments of financial security systems, with a focus on their complexity, their mathematics, and their mechanisms ....

. He has also worked on searches for dwarf star

Dwarf star

The term dwarf star refers to a variety of distinct classes of stars.* Dwarf star alone generally refers to any main sequence star, a star of luminosity class V.** Red dwarfs are low-mass main sequence stars....

s and discovered a supernova

Supernova

A supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...

 (SN 1997bq in NGC 3147) in 1997.

Laurie has named five asteroids he discovered from the Church Stretton

Church Stretton

Church Stretton is a small town and civil parish in Shropshire, England. The population of the town was recorded as 2,789 in 2001, whilst the population of the wider parish was recorded as 4,186...

 area — 7603 Salopia

7603 Salopia

7603 Salopia is a main-belt asteroid discovered on July 25, 1995 by Stephen P. Laurie at Church Stretton ....

 (named after Shropshire

Shropshire

Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

,) 9421 Violilla

9421 Violilla

9421 Violilla is a main belt asteroid with an orbital period of 1340.3426802 days . The asteroid was discovered on December 24, 1995, by S. P. Laurie at Church Stretton....

, 9428 Angelalouise

9428 Angelalouise

9428 Angelalouise is a main-belt asteroid discovered on February 26, 1996 by Laurie, S. P. at Church Stretton.- External links :*...

, 10216 Popastro

10216 Popastro

10216 Popastro is a main-belt asteroid discovered on September 22, 1997 by S. P. Laurie at Church Stretton.- External links :*...

 and 11626 Church Stretton

11626 Church Stretton

11626 Church Stretton is a main belt asteroid with an orbital period of 1247.4976842 days . The asteroid was discovered on November 8, 1996. It is named for the town of Church Stretton in England, where it was discovered by Stephen P. Laurie .Its provisional designation was 1996 VW2.-See also:*7603...

 — both discovered at observatory 966 Church Stretton. Another observatory he uses is at Ragdon (J17), which is close by to Church Stretton. Laurie lives and works in the Church Stretton area.