1981 PM. Discovered 1981 Aug. 3 by E. Bowell at Anderson Mesa.

Named in honor of Stephen M. Larson, planetary scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Well known for his work on comets, Larson has recently digitized many 1910 images of Comet Halley to bring out fresh details of jet structure and has been active in organizing the Near Nucleus Studies Net of the International Halley Watch. His program of monitoring comets by means of spectroscopy and imaging continues to reveal interesting aspects of cometary phenomena. With J. Fountain, he correctly demonstrated the existence of and specified the revolution period of Saturn’s eleventh satellite before the extensive 1980 data completely clarified the confusing situation presented at the 1966 ring-plane passage. (M 12975)

Name suggested and citation prepared by D. H. Levy.