Named in honor of Galina Pavlovna Chernova, a senior researcher at the Astrophysical Institute of the Tadjik Academy of Sciences, Dushanbe. An indefatigable observer of stars, comets and minor planets, Chernova has codiscovered a number of light-scattering effects in cometary atmospheres. She undertook an extensive program of photometric, polarimetric and astrometric observations of Comet Halley and is an active member of the Comets and Asteroids Working Groups of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences. (M 16044) _ _.