Named in honor of Deborah Byrd, writer and producer of “Star Date”, a radio program that since 1978 has broadcast astronomical news and information over several hundred stations in the United States. Byrd began her career providing public information via telephone messages and brochures for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory. This has progressed to include the popular radio program, a series of brief spots for television and more extensive writing for magazines such as Physics Today, “Highlights for Children”, Astronomy and Sky and Telescope. In 1979 she founded the “Texas Star Party” {see planet  (4932)}, now one of the largest meetings for amateur astronomers in North America, which takes place each year near the McDonald Observatory in west Texas. (M 16443) _ _.