Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters

+ Asteroids discovered: 48 72 Feronia  May 29, 1861 75 Eurydike  September 22, 1862 77 Frigga  November 12, 1862 85 Io  September 19, 1865 88 Thisbe  June 15, 1866 92 Undina  July 7, 1867 98 Ianthe  April 18, 1868 102 Miriam  August 22, 1868 109 Felicitas  October 9, 1869 111 Ate  August 14, 1870 112 Iphigenia  September 19, 1870 114 Kassandra  July 23, 1871 116 Sirona  September 8, 1871 122 Gerda  July 31, 1872 123 Brunhild  July 31, 1872 124 Alkeste  August 23, 1872 129 Antigone  February 5, 1873 130 Elektra  February 17, 1873 131 Vala  May 24, 1873 135 Hertha  February 18, 1874 144 Vibilia  June 3, 1875 145 Adeona  June 3, 1875 160 Una  February 20, 1876 165 Loreley  August 9, 1876 166 Rhodope  August 15, 1876 167 Urda  August 28, 1876 176 Iduna  October 14, 1877 185 Eunike  March 1, 1878 188 Menippe  June 18, 1878 189 Phthia  September 9, 1878 190 Ismene  September 22, 1878 191 Kolga  September 30, 1878 194 Prokne  March 21, 1879 196 Philomela  May 14, 1879 199 Byblis  July 9, 1879 200 Dynamene  July 27, 1879 202 Chryseïs  September 11, 1879 203 Pompeja  September 25, 1879 206 Hersilia  October 13, 1879 209 Dido  October 22, 1879 213 Lilaea  February 16, 1880 234 Barbara  August 12, 1883 249 Ilse  August 16, 1885 259 Aletheia  June 28, 1886 261 Prymno  October 31, 1886 264 Libussa  December 22, 1886 270 Anahita  October 8, 1887 287 Nephthys  August 25, 1889
Christian Heinrich Friedrich Peters (September 19, 1813 – July 18, 1890) was a German-American astronomer, and one of the first to find asteroids. 

He was born in Schleswig-Holstein, then part of Denmark but later part of Germany, and later studied under Carl Friedrich Gauss. He spoke many languages and spent time in Italy and Ottoman Turkey before going to the United States in 1854.

Working at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York (near Utica), he was a good finder of asteroids, finding 48 of them, beginning with 72 Feronia in 1861 and ending with 287 Nephthys in 1889.

He was involved in litigation in 1889 with his old assistant Charles A. Borst, and the "Great Star-Catalog Case" Peters v. Borst went before the Supreme Court of New York. The judge sided with Peters, but many astronomers and newspapers sided with Borst. Peters died not long after the trial end. After his death, the judgement was ultimately reversed on appeal and a new trial was ordered, but it never took place.

Besides asteroids, he co-found the Periodic comet 80P/Peters-Hartley, and also found different nebulae and galaxies.

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Category:American astronomers
Category:German astronomers
Category:1813 births
Category:1890 deaths