Named in honor of William Butler Burton (1940– ), American born and since 1981 professor of astronomy at the University of Leiden. He was a student of Peter van de Kamp {see planet  (1965)} at Sproul Observatory. His main interest is the structure of the Galactic system at different wavelengths. He served as president of IAU Commission 33 (Structure and Dynamics of the Galactic System) from 1985 to 1987 and is chairman of the Science Team of the DENIS (Deep Near Infrared Survey of the Southern Sky) collaboration. (M 22508) _ _.