1975 RA. Discovered 1975 Sept. 3 by A. R. Klemola at Mount Hamilton.

Named in honor of Nicholas U. Mayall {1906–1993}, director of the Kitt Peak National Observatory during 1960–1971. It was under his direction that the planning and construction of a major portion of the astronomical facilities at the Kitt Peak and Cerro Tololo observatories were accomplished. He was on the Lick Observatory staff from 1945 to 1960. His major research contribution spans the domains of nebular spectroscopy, radial velocities of globular clusters and planetary nebulae, and the redshifts and internal motions of galaxies. (M 5848)

Obituary published in Bull. Am. Astron. Soc., Vol. 25, No. 4, p. 1499 (1993).