Erik Prosperin (25 July 1739 – 4 April 1803) was aSwedishastronomer.

Prosperin was a lecturer inmathematics andphysics atUppsala University in 1767, professor of observationalastronomy (Observator) in 1773 – 1796, and professor of Astronomy in 1797 – 1798. He became a member of theRoyal Swedish Academy of Sciences (KVA) inStockholm in 1771, a member of theRoyal Society of Sciences in Uppsala in 1774 (secretary from 1786 onwards), and a member of theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1803.^[1]

Prosperin was a famous calculator oforbits:comets,planets, and theirsatellites. He calculated the orbits of the new (discovered in 1781) planetUranus — for which he proposed the namesAstraea,Cybele, andNeptune — and its satellites. He was also one of the first to calculate the orbit of the firstasteroid,1 Ceres, in 1801.

Prosperin calculated orbits for a total of 84 comets, especiallyComet Messier (C/1769 P1),Comet Lexell (D/1770 L1), theGreat Comet of 1771 (C/1771 A1, 1770 II),Comet Montaigne (C/1774 P1),Comet Bode (C/1779 A1), andComet Encke (2P/1795 V1).

The asteroid7292 Prosperin was named in his honor.

• Prosperin at Uppsala University
• Nordisk familjebok: Proskenion – Prosperin

• 1739 births
• 1803 deaths
• 18th-century Swedish astronomers
• Academic staff of Uppsala University
• Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala
• International members of the American Philosophical Society

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata