Christian August Friedrich Peters (7 September 1806 – 8 May 1880) was a German

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

. He was the father of astronomer Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Peters. He was born in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and died in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

. Peters was the son of a merchant and, although he did not attend secondary school regularly, he obtained a good knowledge of mathematics and astronomy. In 1826 he became assistant to

Heinrich Christian Schumacher Prof Heinrich Christian Schumacher FRS(For) FRSE (3 September 1780 – 28 December 1850) was a German- Danish astronomer and mathematician. Biography Schumacher was born at Bramstedt, in Holstein, near the German/Danish border. He was educ ...

Altona Observatory The Altona Observatory () was an astronomical observatory situated in the Palmaille, in Altona, Hamburg. The observatory was founded by Heinrich Christian Schumacher in 1823 and continued to operate until 1871, 21 years after his death. It close ...

. Schumacher encouraged him to study astronomy and Peters did a PhD under

Friedrich Bessel Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel (; 22 July 1784 – 17 March 1846) was a German astronomer, mathematician, physicist, and geodesist. He was the first astronomer who determined reliable values for the distance from the sun to another star by the method ...

at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg (german: Albertus-Universität Königsberg) was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Pruss ...

. In 1834 he became an assistant at Hamburg Observatory and in 1839 joined the staff of

Pulkovo Observatory The Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory (russian: Пулковская астрономическая обсерватория, Pulkovskaya astronomicheskaya observatoriya), officially named the Central Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academ ...

. In 1849 he became professor of astronomy at

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was name ...

and soon after succeeded Bessel as director of the observatory there. In 1854 he became director of the Altona Observatory and editor of the '' Astronomische Nachrichten''. Peters edited the journal for the rest of his life, being responsible for 58 volumes of the journal. In 1872 the observatory moved to

and he moved there and continued in his post. In 1866, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Peters became a name in the literature on the theory of errors for his 1856 note on the estimation of precision using

absolute deviation In mathematics and statistics, deviation is a measure of difference between the observed value of a variable and some other value, often that variable's mean. The sign of the deviation reports the direction of that difference (the deviation is posi ...

s from the mean. Peters won the

Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society is the highest award given by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). The RAS Council have "complete freedom as to the grounds on which it is awarded" and it can be awarded for any reason. Past awar ...

in 1852.

Works

*''Numerus constans nutationis ex ascensionibus rectis stellae polaris in specula Dorpatensi annis 1822 ad 1838 observatis deductus''. (1842) *''Resultate aus Beobachtungen des Polarsterns am Ertelschen Vertikalkreise''. 1842 *''Recherches sur la parallaxe des étoiles fixes''. (1847) *''Über die eigene Bewegung des Sirius''. Diese Schrift führte zur Entdeckung des

Sirius Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Greek word , or , meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated α Canis Majoris, Latinized to Alpha Canis Majoris, and abbreviated Alpha CM ...

-Begleiters
Astronomische Nachrichten, 32, (1851), 1-58.
*Über die Bestimmung des wahrscheinlichen Fehlers einer Beobachtung aus den Abweichungen der Beobachtungen von ihrem arithmetischen Mittel
Astronomische Nachrichten, 44, (1856). 29-32
The articles Peters published in ''Astronomische Nachrichten'' are all available on-line.

Biography

* H. C. Freiesleben Peters, Christian August Friedrich Dictionary of Scientific Biography, vol. 10, 542-3.

External links

Obituary
(1880Obs ... .3) {{DEFAULTSORT:Peters, Christian August Friedrich 1806 births 1880 deaths 19th-century German astronomers Scientists from Hamburg Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences