Named in honor of Kurt Birkle {1939– }, since 1974 the local director of the Calar Alto Observatory, which is managed in close cooperation with the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie in Heidelberg. As an MPI collaborator Birkle performed pioneering work on site testing in mediterranean and other countries for a new large observatory. He is also an expert in astrophotography, well known for his observations of comets. (M 18466) _ _.