Named in honour of Arthur Covington (b. 1913; d. 2001), Canada's first radio astronomer. His discovery, during the partial solar eclipse of 1946-11-23, that microwave emission was far more intense from the vicinity of sunspots than elsewhere on the sun, was the first indicator that magnetic fields were important in the generation of nonthermal cosmic radio emission. In 1947 Covington inaugurated at the National Research Council of Canada daily measurements of the solar microwave flux at 10.7 cm. Name suggested and citation provided by C. J. Cunningham.

Orbit type: Main Belt Asteroid

Reference: MPC 23541