Named in honor of Heather Couper (1949– ), British popularizer and promoter of astronomy, on the occasion of her 50th birthday, 1999 June 2. Former Gresham professor of astronomy and a past president of the British Astronomical Association, she regularly appears on radio and television and is the author of more than 25 books. As one of the nine Millennium Commissioners, she is responsible for allocating some 500 million GBP to public science projects in the U.K., including the National Space Centre in Leicester. (M 35481) _ _.