Named in honour of Johannes Kepler (27 December 1571, Free Imperial City of Weil der Stadt, Holy Roman Empire – 15 November 1630, Free Imperial City of Regensburg, Holy Roman Empire), a prominent German naturalist, for his contributions to astronomy and crystallography. He built new refracting telescopes and is best known for his laws of planetary motion, describing the orbits as ellipses for the first time.
