Named in honor of Zdeněk Kopal {1914–1993}, astronomer, Czech-born chairman of the astronomy department of Victoria University, Manchester, during 1951–1981. A world authority on eclipsing variables, the Moon and the terrestrial planets, Kopal played a leading role in the exploration of the Moon in a NASA-sponsored program. (M 7158) _ _.
Discovered on 25-6-1979 in Siding Spring by Helin, E. F., Bus, S. J.