An asteroid has been named after a Suffolk astronomer and one of the first female fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Alice Grace Cook, was born in 1877 and died 1958, and was a Stowmarket amateur astronomer.

The asteroid 2000 EY156 has been named Gracecook after the skilled observer.

After joining the British Astronomical Association, Ms Cook observed the 1914 Mercury transit from her own observatory and was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Known for meteor and auroral observations, she received the E.C.Pickering Fellowship in 1920.

Ms Cook was also the director of the British Astronomical Association Meteor Section.

In 1921, she noted 867 meteors in 291 hours of watching.

The astronomer published a series of astronomy articles in East Anglian Daily Times in 1919 and 1920.

In 1950 she became one of the founding members of the Ipswich and District Astronomical Society.

A school in Stowmarket was named after the astronomer.

Ms Cook’s father, Francis Rider Cook (1842-1917), helped his father run Suffolk’s soap and disinfectant factory.

Ms Cook had two brothers, Francis Edward Arthur and Herbert Rider, as well as a sister Sarah Mabel.