Peters, Christian August Friedrich

Born Sept. 7, 1806, in Hamburg; died May 8, 1880, in Kiel. German astronomer. Member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1842).

Peters was an astronomer at the Hamburg Observatory from 1834 to 1839 and worked at the Pulkovo Observatory from 1839 to 1849. In 1849 he was appointed a professor at the University of Königsberg. In 1854 he became publisher of the journal As-tronomische Nachrichten and director of the observatory at Altona, which was moved to Kiel in 1872. He became a professor at the University of Kiel in 1874. Peters’ most important achievement was his determination of the value of the constants of nutation and aberration. He also investigated the irregularity of the proper motion of Sirius and determined the longitude of several German cities.