Named in honor of Richard L. Branham Jr. (1943– ), a U.S. astronomer who works in meridian astronomy and celestial mechanics. Branham worked in the 7-inch Transit Circle Division of the U.S. Naval Observatory from 1968 to 1982, toward the end of which time he was resident director of the Yale-Columbia Southern Station at El Leoncito and also in charge of the Naval Observatory’s Austral Expedition. Since 1982 he has continued his astronomical research and teaching in Argentine. (M 29143) _ _.