Named in honor of Ashley Thomas McDermott, professor of astronomy at the College of the Desert, Palm Desert, California, for the past 34 years. During this time he has taught astronomy to well over 10,000 students with his own special wisdom, love, enthusiasm and humor for the subject. He has also contributed many years of valuable service to the Riverside Telescope Makers' Conference, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the Western Amateur Astronomers and the History of Astronomy Society. He founded the Astronomical Society of the Desert and the Andromeda Astronomical Society. (M 27331) _ _.