Christian August Friedrich Peters
Christian August Friedrich Peters ( born September 7, 1806 Hamburg, † May 8, 1880 in Kiel ) was a German astronomer.
Peters formed by self-study and took from 1826 to 1832 under the direction of Heinrich Christian Schumacher in the work of the observatory Altona, Holstein degree of measurement and the determination of the simple seconds pendulum on Güldenstein part.
In 1833 he was appointed assistant at the Observatory Hamburg. In 1839 he was in the same position to the Russian observatory Pulkowa in Saint Petersburg. Here he was in 1842 elected as adjuncts of the Academy of Sciences and in 1847 extraordinary academics.
Peters in 1849 associate professor of astronomy in Königsberg. From 1853 he was a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and in 1859 their foreign member.
In 1854, he was the last director of the observatory of Altona, which was located at that time in economic difficulties. Altona and the observatory at the time were under Danish administration. When the Elbe duchies in 1864 by Denmark renounced, the relocation of the observatory at the University of Kiel was decided. 1872, the installation was complete. 1873 Peters was appointed full professor in Kiel.
As the successor to Schumacher and Adolph Cornelius Petersen Peters issued the Astronomische Nachrichten. Under his leadership, however, the journal experienced a significant loss of quality because Peters had fallen out with a number of astronomers and the magazine was shunned by many authors.
Peters died in 1880 at the age of 73 years in Kiel.
Honors
In 1852 he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society.
1935, the lunar crater Peters was named after him.
Works
- Number constans nutationis ex ascensionibus rectis stellae polaris in specula Dorpatensi annis 1822 ad 1838 observatis deductus. (1842 )
- Results from observations of Polaris at the Ertel vertical circle. 1842
- Recherches sur la parallax des étoiles fixes. (1847 )
- About the own movement of Sirius, Astronomische Nachrichten No.. 745, 1-16; No. 746, 17-32; No. 747, 33-48; No. 748, 49-58, Altona 1851. Font This led to the discovery of the Sirius companion.