Named in memory of Wilhelm Heinrich Walter Baade (1893–1960), German-born astronomer who joined the staff of Mount Wilson Observatory in 1931 and whose observations of M31 and its companion led to the classification of stars in two discrete populations. While at Bergedorf in 1920 he discovered (944) Hidalgo, and at Palomar in 1949 he discovered (1566) Icarus. These are the minor planets of largest aphelion and smallest perihelion distance, respectively. (M 4236) _ _.