Named in honor of Larry A. Lebofsky, planetary scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory of the University of Arizona, Tucson. Lebofsky was the first to find chemically-bound water and the presence of ice in the regoliths of minor planets and has been a major contributor to the development of minor-planet thermal models. He has also played an important role in the extraction of minor-planet data from IRAS {see planet  (3728)} infrared observations. He has undertaken related laboratory spectral studies on icy condensates and the comparison of minor planets with cometary dust, planetary satellites and Pluto. (M 12458) _ _.