Hansen, Peter Andreas

Peter Andreas Hansen, (born Dec. 8, 1795, Tondern, Den.—died March 28, 1874, Gotha, Ger.), Danish-born German astronomer whose most important work was the improvement of the theories and tables of the orbits of the principal bodies in the solar system.

Hansen became director of the Seeberg Observatory, near Gotha, in 1825, and in 1857 a new observatory was built for him. He worked on theoretical geodesy, optics, and probability theory. His most important books on the theory of the motion of the Moon are the Fundamenta nova investigationis orbitae verae quam Luna perlustrat (1838; “New Foundations of the Investigation of the True Orbit That the Moon Traverses”) and the Darlegung der theoretischen Berechnung der in den Mondtafeln angewandten Störungen (1862–64; “Explanation of the Theoretical Calculation of Perturbations Used in Lunar Tables”). The systematic character of Hansen’s methods carried celestial mechanics to a new level of power and precision. The tables based on his theory were printed in Great Britain in 1857 and were used until 1923. From his theory of the Moon, Hansen deduced a value close to that now accepted for the distance between Earth and the Sun. Assisted by the astronomer Christian Olufsen, Hansen in 1853 compiled new tables of the Sun’s positions at various times.