Named for astronomer Yvonne Jean Pendleton (1957– ) of the NASA Ames Research Center. She specializes in the spectroscopic study of the organic components of interstellar dust and the incorporation of that dust into bodies in the solar system and extrasolar planetary systems. She has pursued the identification of interstellar organics through comparative studies using materials produced in the laboratory and those derived from meteorites. Her research is focused on the connection of interstellar organic matter to the origin of life on the earth and other planets. Pendleton is a codiscoverer of the organic matter in interstellar dust in external galaxies by infrared spectroscopy. (M 29149) _ _.