The Giuseppe S. Vaiana Astronomical Observatory is an
astronomical observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...
located in
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
,
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
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, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
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, demographi ...
, Italy, housed inside the
Palazzo dei Normanni
The Palazzo dei Normanni (Norman Palace) is also called Royal Palace of Palermo. It was the seat of the Kings of Sicily with the Hauteville dynasty and served afterwards as the main seat of power for the subsequent rulers of Sicily. Since 1946 ...
. 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
Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes over the course of time. Depending on the mass of the star, its lifetime can range from a few million years for the most massive to trillions of years for the least massive, which is cons ...
(including the birth of stars) and of the
supernova remnant
A supernova remnant (SNR) is the structure resulting from the explosion of a star in a supernova. The supernova remnant is bounded by an expanding shock wave, and consists of ejected material expanding from the explosion, and the interstellar mat ...
s.
History
![Palermo_Ramsden_telescope](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Palermo_Ramsden_telescope.jpg)
It was founded in 1790 by
Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies
Ferdinand I (12 January 1751 – 4 January 1825) was the King of the Two Sicilies from 1816, after his restoration following victory in the Napoleonic Wars. Before that he had been, since 1759, Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinand I ...
, at the suggestion of some intellectuals of the time, including the then Sicilian viceroy
Francesco d'Aquino, Prince of Caramanico
Francesco Maria Venanzio d'Aquino, prince of Caramanico (27 February 1738, Naples - 9 January 1795, Palermo) was ambassador to London and Paris for the Kingdom of Naples and later viceroy of Sicily.
Life
Family
He was the son of prince Antoni ...
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
Giuseppe Piazzi ( , ; 16 July 1746 – 22 July 1826) was an Italian Catholic priest of the Theatine order, mathematician, and astronomer. He established an observatory at Palermo, now the '' Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo – Giuseppe ...
, a middle-aged mathematician, who before had not particularly distinguished himself in astronomy. The new director immediately dealt with the purchase of the most modern astronomical instruments of the time to make the observatory compete at European level: among other things, a surveying instrument of five-foot diameter to work in conjunction with telescopes to document the position of stars was purchased, made by English manufacturer Jesse Ramsden
Jesse Ramsden FRS FRSE (6 October 1735 – 5 November 1800) was a British mathematician, astronomical and scientific instrument maker. His reputation was built on the engraving and design of dividing engines which allowed high accuracy measureme ...
, and the first dome was built. It was Piazzi's determination that allowed the precious English instrument to arrive in Sicily: the astronomer had to go personally to prod the builder and, later, also cope with all the bureaucratic difficulties that arose: the British government was reluctant to allow the export of a uniquely capable instrument (a status which remained for many years, a fundamental aspect of the observatory's early value). Thanks to the new equipment, and in particular to the Palermo Circle, as it became known in English-speaking world (or the Circle of Ramsden in Italian), this was Ramsden's most celebrated achievement. In 1801 Piazzi discovered and identified the first asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere.
...
Ceres
Ceres most commonly refers to:
* Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid
* Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture
Ceres may also refer to:
Places
Brazil
* Ceres, Goiás, Brazil
* Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...
. He named this object which became classified in the 21st century a 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 p ...
, ''Cerere Ferdinandea'', in honour of the myth of Ceres
Ceres most commonly refers to:
* Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid
* Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture
Ceres may also refer to:
Places
Brazil
* Ceres, Goiás, Brazil
* Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...
set in Sicily and of King Ferdinand; thanks to this discovery, he was awarded a gold medal which he refused instead donating its worth to the purchase of other instruments, including a Troughton Troughton is a surname, and may refer to
* Alice Troughton, British film and television director, not related to Patrick Troughton
* Bob Troughton (1904–1988), Australian rules footballer
* Charles Troughton (1916–1991), British businessman
* ...
equatorial telescope that he placed in the second dome of the observatory.
In 1817 Piazzi moved to 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 adminis ...
to complete the setting up of the Capodimonte Astronomical Observatory, leaving direction of the Palermo observatory to his assistant 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 Pale ...
. Cacciatore was succeeded, in 1841, by his son Gaetano; however, in 1848, he was removed for political reasons, having taken part in the revolutionary anti-Bourbon movements. The management of the Palermo observatory was then entrusted to Domenico Ragona, who succeeded in obtaining from the Two Sicilies government the necessary funds to purchase new instruments, including a 25 cm aperture Merz equatorial telescope, delivered in 1859.
With the 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 Ma ...
in 1860, the situation was reversed: Gaetano Cacciatore's directorship was reinstated and Ragona removed, without being able to install the Merz telescope. Pietro Tacchini, appointed Deputy Astronomer in 1863, installed and commissioned the equatorial telescope in 1865, using it for solar physics research which would make the Palermo Observatory famous in the second half of the nineteenth century and lead to the foundation of the Society of Italian Spectroscopists (1871), whose Memoirs (''Memorie'') - the first review of astrophysics - would be published periodically in Palermo from 1872 by Tacchini.
The departure of Tacchini for Rome in 1879 began a difficult phase; Annibale Riccò, the Deputy (i.e. "Adjunct") Astronomer, managed to keep the quality of research high until he took over the direction of the Catania observatory in 1890; then, the political and military events – and the consequent financial difficulties of the Government – severely compromised the observatory, which in 1923 was downgraded to the university's Cabinet of Astronomy.
From 1931 to 1936 its director was Corradino Mineo, an academician of the Lincei, who had a second term from 1938 to 1948, after the directorship of Francesco Zagar.[ They were years characterized by great difficulties of the institution, which had already seen, in the reform of 1923, declassification to a simple astronomical cabinet, and it was hit by a serious decline, with a reduction of personnel and scarcity of funds for the conduct of observations and for technological adaptation. The problems became acute during and after the Second World War, when the observatory was close to closure, deprived of some premises, after having also been deprived, in 1939, of the only modern observation instrument it was equipped with, a model of zenith telescope developed by Julius Wanschaff in Berlin.][
The three domes originally placed on the roof of the building were replaced in the fifties with others in iron, which were later removed because they were too heavy and dangerous for the structure; later, lighter copper domes of the previous design were installed. It is named after Giuseppe Salvatore Vaiana, who directed it from 1976 to 1991.
]
Directors
*Giuseppe Piazzi
*Niccolò Cacciatore
*Gaetano Cacciatore
*Domenico Ragona
*Pietro Tacchini
*Annibale Riccò
* Temistocle Zona
*Filippo Angelitti
*Corradino Mineo
*Francesco Zagar
*Corradino Mineo
*Luciano Chiara
*Salvatore Leone
*Giuseppe Salvatore Vaiana
*Salvatore Serio
*Salvatore Sciortino
*Giuseppina Micela
Activities
The observatory has a laboratory for the development and testing of scientific instrumentation for x-ray band telescopes (X-ray Astronomy Calibration and Testing Facility, XACT) in a separate building, a high-tech computing center, carries out iterations and error-testing of numerical models collating observations and measurements in astrophysics (System of Calculation for Numerical Astrophysics, SCAN) and the Museum of the Specola, which contains a vast collection of astronomical instruments belonging to the Observatory.
Museum
The Museum of the Specola, located at the top of the leaning tower of the Norman palace, is mainly composed of 18th- and 19th-century instruments, among which are achromatic telescopes, a sextant, some barometers and thermometers, as well as two main items earlier mentioned: the Palermo Circle (circle by Ramsden) and 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 child ...
's equatorial telescope. It hosts other contemporary instruments and a series of oil paintings that portray personalities from the scientific world.
See also
* 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 ...
References
{{Authority control
Astronomical observatories in Italy
Palazzo dei Normanni
1790 establishments in the Kingdom of Sicily