Asteroid

Asteroid

Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

s discovered: 2

5 Astraea 5 Astraea 5 Astraea is a large main-belt asteroid. Its surface is highly reflective and its composition is probably a mixture of nickel-iron with magnesium- and iron-silicates....	December 8, 1845
6 Hebe 6 Hebe 6 Hebe is a large main-belt asteroid, containing around half a percent of the mass of the belt. Its apparently high bulk density , however, means that by volume it does not rank among the top twenty asteroids...	July 1, 1847

Karl Ludwig Hencke (April 8, 1793 - September 21 1866) was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 amateur astronomer

Astronomer

An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...

. He is sometimes confused with Johann Franz Encke

Johann Franz Encke

Johann Franz Encke was a German astronomer. Among his activities, he worked on the calculation of the periods of comets and asteroids, measured the distance from the earth to the sun, and made observations on the planet Saturn.-Biography:Encke was born in Hamburg, where his father was a...

, another German astronomer.

Hencke was born in Driesen, Brandenburg (now Drezdenko

Drezdenko

Drezdenko is a town in Poland, in Lubusz Voivodeship, in Strzelce-Drezdenko County. It has 10,421 inhabitants .- People :* Karl Ludwig Hencke* Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum* Adam Krieger* Joachim von der Marwitz* Carl Spude* Krystian Burchart...

, Poland). He volunteered in the Wars of Liberation

War of the Sixth Coalition

In the War of the Sixth Coalition , a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and a number of German States finally defeated France and drove Napoleon Bonaparte into exile on Elba. After Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia, the continental powers...

 (Befreiungskriege) for Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

 but was wounded at Lützen

Lützen

' is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated approx. 14 km northeast of Weißenfels, and 18 km southwest of Leipzig.The town was the scene of two famous battles:...

. Thereafter he served as post official at various places and finally was erected post master. After his retirement he lived in his city of birth where he served as city court judge.

He discovered two asteroid

Asteroid

Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

s from his private observatory at #9, Kietz (now #43, Kietzerstraße), Driesen, by comparing star maps with the sky seen through his telescope. The first, 5 Astraea

5 Astraea

5 Astraea is a large main-belt asteroid. Its surface is highly reflective and its composition is probably a mixture of nickel-iron with magnesium- and iron-silicates....

, is notable for being the first asteroid discovered after the long gap that followed the last of the original four, 4 Vesta

4 Vesta

Vesta, formally designated 4 Vesta, is one of the largest asteroids, with a mean diameter of about . It was discovered by Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers on March 29, 1807, and is named after the Roman virgin goddess of home and hearth, Vesta....

, which was discovered in 1807. Other astronomers had abandoned their searches for more asteroids, convinced that there were only four. However, Hencke began searching in 1830, and fifteen years later met with success. He also worked on the improvement of star maps.

He died in Marienwerder (now Kwidzyn

Kwidzyn

Kwidzyn is a town in northern Poland on the Liwa river, with 40,008 inhabitants . It has been a part of the Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, and was previously in the Elbląg Voivodeship . It is the capital of Kwidzyn County.-History:...

), then part of Prussia.

The asteroid 2005 Hencke

2005 Hencke

2005 Hencke is a main-belt asteroid discovered on September 2, 1973 by Wild, P. at Zimmerwald.- External links :*...

is named in his honour.