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Palermo Astronomical Observatory
The Giuseppe S. Vaiana Astronomical Observatory is an astronomical observatory located in Palermo, Sicily, Italy, housed inside the Palazzo dei Normanni. It is one of the research facilities of the National Institute of Astrophysics. The observatory carries out research projects in the field of astronomy and astrophysics including the study of solar and stellar coronas, stellar evolution (including the birth of stars) and of the supernova remnants. History It was founded in 1790 by Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, at the suggestion of some intellectuals of the time, including the then Sicilian viceroy Francesco d'Aquino, Prince of Caramanico to endow the Sicilian city with an element of prestige as an astronomical observatory. It was hard to find an expert astronomer who would agree to work in such a peripheral location at the time. In the end the choice fell on Giuseppe Piazzi, a middle-aged mathematician, who before had not particularly distinguished himself in astronomy. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
0564 - Palermo - Palazzo Dei Normanni, Facciata Principale - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto, 28-Sept-2006
__NOTOC__ Year 564 (Roman numerals, DLXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 564 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Britain * Cadoc, abbot of Llancarfan (Wales), settles in Weedon, Buckinghamshire, Weedon and is made bishop (approximate date). * August 22 – Columba reports seeing the Loch Ness Monster at the River Ness (according to the ''Loch Ness Monster#Saint Columba (6th century), "Life of St. Columba"''). Mesoamerica * Tulum, Maya Defensive wall, walled city, on the Yucatán Peninsula (modern Mexico) is first mentioned on a stele inscription. By topic Religion * Samson of Dol, Brittany#Religion, one of seven founder saints of Brittany, attends a council in Paris and witnesses several Decree, royal decrees (approximate date). Births * Hermen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Society For The History Of Astronomy
The Society for the History of Astronomy is an organisation based in the United Kingdom that promotes research into the history of astronomy. It publishes a research journal called ''The Antiquarian Astronomer'' and a regular ''Bulletin''. The society The Society for the History of Astronomy was founded in 2002 to promote the study of the history of astronomy by hosting talks by members and publishing new research into the field. One main objective was to encourage research into past astronomers who have previously been neglected within the history of science. Some of its members are professional historians of science but most are amateur historians. The honorary president is Dr Allan Chapman of Wadham College, Oxford. The honorary vice-presidents are Emily Winterburn (who was chair at the time of foundation) and Prof. Mike Edmunds. Previous vice-presidents have included Sir Patrick Moore, Sir Arnold Wolfendale, FRS, and Dr Michael Hoskin. The society hosts several one-day ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Astronomical Observatories
This is a list of astronomical observatories ordered by name, along with initial dates of operation (where an accurate date is available) and location. The list also includes a final year of operation for many observatories that are no longer in operation. While other sciences, such as volcanology and meteorology, also use facilities called observatories for research and observations, this list is limited to observatories that are used to observe celestial objects. Astronomical observatories are mainly divided into four categories: space-based, airborne, ground-based, and underground-based. Many modern telescopes and observatories are located in space to observe astronomical objects in wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that cannot penetrate the Earth's atmosphere (such as ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, and gamma rays) and are thus impossible to observe using ground-based telescopes. Being above the atmosphere, these space observatories can also avoid the effects of atmo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Temistocle Zona
Temistocle Zona (7 May 1848 – 2 May 1910) was an Italian astronomer. Born in Porto Tolle, in 1870 Zona graduated in architecture at the University of Padua, and he was a volunteer assistant at the Observatory of that city from 1868 to 1871. In October 1880, he entered the staff of Gaetano Cacciatore at the Observatory of Palermo, and in 1891 he became the director of the Observatory, a role he held until 1898. In 1882, he became professor at the University of Palermo. He is best known as the discoverer of the comet C/1890 V1, C/1890 V1 Zona, on November 15, 1890. He wrote about sixty works, mainly related to observations of comets, eclipses of the moon and meteors. References {{DEFAULTSORT:Zona, Temistocle 1848 births 1910 deaths 19th-century Italian astronomers University of Padua alumni Academic staff of the University of Palermo People from the Province of Rovigo 20th-century Italian astronomers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Expedition Of The Thousand
The Expedition of the Thousand ( it, Spedizione dei Mille) was an event of the Italian Risorgimento that took place in 1860. A corps of volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi sailed from Quarto, near Genoa (now Quarto dei Mille) and landed in Marsala, Sicily, in order to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, ruled by the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. The project was an ambitious and risky venture aiming to conquer, with a thousand men, a kingdom with a larger regular army and a more powerful navy. The expedition was a success and concluded with a plebiscite that brought Naples and Sicily into the Kingdom of Sardinia, the last territorial conquest before the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy on 17 March 1861. The sea venture was the only desired action that was jointly decided by the "four fathers of the nation" Giuseppe Mazzini, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Victor Emmanuel II, and Camillo Cavour, pursuing divergent goals. However, the Expedition was instigated by Francesco Cris ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niccolò Cacciatore
Niccolò Cacciatore (; 26 January 1770 – 28 January 1841) was an Italian astronomer. Cacciatore was born at Casteltermini, in Sicily. While studying mathematics and physics in Palermo, he became acquainted with Giuseppe Piazzi, head of the Palermo Astronomical Observatory, and became a graduate student assistant at the observatory in 1798. Two years later, in 1800, the year before Piazzi discovered Ceres, Cacciatore was formally put on staff. Cacciatore helped Piazzi compile the second edition of the Palermo Star Catalogue (1814). He did the bulk of the work, in fact heading the project starting in 1807. He also published works on the comets of 1807 and 1819. Cacciatore succeeded Piazzi as director of the Palermo Observatory in 1817. As such, his most notable observation was the discovery of globular cluster NGC 6541 on 19 March 1826. The observatory was attacked, and he was imprisoned, during the Sicilian Revolution of 1820, but he survived to restore the facility and lead ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capodimonte Astronomical Observatory
The Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte ( it, Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, italic=no) is the Neapolitan department of Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (National Institute for Astrophysics, INAF), the most important Italian institution promoting, developing and conducting scientific research in the fields of astronomy, astrophysics, and space science. The astronomy, Astronomical Observatory is located in Naples, Italy, on Parco di Capodimonte, Capodimonte hill, where the splendid panorama of the city and Gulf of Naples, bay of Naples from Vesuvius to Castel Sant'Elmo passing through Sorrento and Capri can be admired. The Observatory is engaged in several relevant international projects and researches, such as Solar Orbiter and ExoMars missions, gravitational waves studies, and observational instruments development for E-ELT, the next generation huge telescope. The Astronomical Observatory is the oldest scientific institution in Naples, and plays also an important r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's administrative limits as of 2022. Its province-level municipality is the third-most populous metropolitan city in Italy with a population of 3,115,320 residents, and its metropolitan area stretches beyond the boundaries of the city wall for approximately 20 miles. Founded by Greeks in the first millennium BC, Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited urban areas in the world. In the eighth century BC, a colony known as Parthenope ( grc, Παρθενόπη) was established on the Pizzofalcone hill. In the sixth century BC, it was refounded as Neápolis. The city was an important part of Magna Graecia, played a major role in the merging of Greek and Roman society, and was a significant cultural centre under the Romans. Naples served a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Troughton
Edward Troughton FRS FRSE FAS (October 1753 – 12 June 1835) was a British instrument maker who was notable for making telescopes and other astronomical instruments. Life Troughton was born at Corney, Cumberland, the youngest of six children to Francis Troughton, a husbandman on a farm, and his wife, Mary Stable. Originally raised to tend animals, Edward went to London in 1773. He then served an apprenticeship with his uncle, John Troughton (b.c.1716) alongside his elder brother, also John Troughton, and in 1779 he became his business partner and soon established himself as the top maker of navigational, surveying and astronomical instruments in Britain. They were based at 136 Fleet Street in central London. Their shop was called the "Sign of the Orrery". In 1795 he delivered what is now known as the Troughton Equatorial telescope to the Armagh Observatory, a 2-inch aperture refractor telescope mounted equatorially, and its first major instrument since its founding in 179 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ceres (mythology)
In ancient Roman religion, Ceres ( , ) was a goddess of agriculture, grain crops, fertility and motherly relationships.Room, Adrian, ''Who's Who in Classical Mythology'', p. 89-90. NTC Publishing 1990. . She was originally the central deity in Rome's so-called plebeian or Aventine Triad, then was paired with her daughter Proserpina in what Romans described as "the Greek rites of Ceres". Her seven-day April festival of Cerealia included the popular ''Ludi Ceriales'' (Ceres' games). She was also honoured in the May ''lustratio'' of the fields at the Ambarvalia festival, at harvest-time, and during Roman marriages and funeral rites. She is usually depicted as a mature woman. Ceres is the only one of Rome's many agricultural deities to be listed among the Dii Consentes, Rome's equivalent to the Twelve Olympians of Greek mythology. The Romans saw her as the counterpart of the Greek goddess Demeter,''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215. whos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dwarf Planet
A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit of the Sun, smaller than any of the eight classical planets but still a world in its own right. The prototypical dwarf planet is Pluto. The interest of dwarf planets to planetary geologists is that they may be geologically active bodies, an expectation that was borne out in 2015 by the ''Dawn'' mission to and the '' New Horizons'' mission to Pluto. Astronomers are in general agreement that at least the nine largest candidates are dwarf planets: Pluto, , , , , , , , and . Of these and the tenth-largest candidate , all but Sedna have either been visited by spacecraft (Pluto and Ceres) or have at least one known moon (Pluto, Eris, Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong, Quaoar, Orcus, and Salacia), which allows their masses and thus an estimate of their densities to be determined. Mass and density in turn can be fit into geophysical models in an attempt to determine the nature of these worlds. Some astronomers include ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ceres (dwarf Planet)
Ceres (; minor-planet designation: 1 Ceres) is a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It was the first asteroid discovered, on 1 January 1801, by Giuseppe Piazzi at Palermo Astronomical Observatory in Sicily and announced as a new planet. Ceres was later classified as an asteroid and then a dwarf planetthe only one always inside Neptune's orbit. Ceres's small size means that even at its brightest, it is too dim to be seen by the naked eye, except under extremely dark skies. Its apparent magnitude ranges from 6.7 to 9.3, peaking at opposition (when it is closest to Earth) once every 15- to 16-month synodic period. As a result, its surface features are barely visible even with the most powerful telescopes, and little was known about it until the robotic NASA spacecraft ''Dawn'' approached Ceres for its orbital mission in 2015. ''Dawn'' found Ceres's surface to be a mixture of water ice, and hydrated minerals such as carbonates and clay. Gra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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