Mikhail Petrovich Dichenko

Born Jan. 27 (Feb. 8), 1863, in the city of Boiarka, in present-day Kiev Oblast; died Dec. 4, 1932. Soviet astronomer; specialist in astrometry and theoretical astronomy.

From 1891 to 1898, Dichenko was an astronomer at the Pulkovo Observatory, where he determined the positions of 125 circumpolar stars on the meridian circle. Beginning in 1898 he was an astronomer-observer at the Kiev Observatory. As a result of 34 years of observing the positions of stars on the meridian circle, he compiled a catalog of zodiacal stars. In addition, on the basis of his newly conducted observations of stars in Argelander’s zones, Dichenko investigated the motion of the sun.