Named in memory of Carl Leo Stearns (1892–1972), Fisk professor of astronomy at Wesleyan University and second director of the Van Vleck Observatory. His primary research consisted of the determination of more than 200 trigonometric parallaxes. He also participated in the world-wide {433} Eros campaign in 1931 but is perhaps best known as the discoverer of comet 1927 IV, which holds the record for the maximum heliocentric distance at which a comet has ever been observed. (M 4548) _ _.