The Discovery of 79912 was on February 10, 1999 and named after American Astrophyysicist Dirk Terrell by W.R. Cooney Jr. and Kandler in Baton Rouge at the Observatory.
The asteroid was named after American astrophysicist Dirk Terrell. It was discovered on 10 February 1999, by astronomers Walter Cooney and Ethan Kandler at the Highland Road Park Observatory, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States. 
