Named in honor of Erik V. Petersen (1911– ), Danish amateur astronomer, who has contributed to astronomy through his study of minor planets, especially of (51) Nemausa. During 1955–1965 Petersen used the refractor at the Copenhagen University Observatory to take 712 plates, on which he measured 2,562 positions of minor planets. This is the largest single project ever carried out with that telescope. The data were used in an international collaboration, and Petersen’s work received a special commendation at the IAU General Assembly in Prague in 1967. (M 21611) _ _.