Gianluca Masi (born 22 January 1972) is an Italian astrophysicist and

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

, as well as a discoverer of

minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...

s and

variable star A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are classified as ...

Scientific career

He started his interest in astronomy in childhood, later becoming a professional astronomer, earning a PhD in astronomy at the Sapienza University of Rome in 2006. At the same time, he devoted a lot of effort to

science communication Science communication is the practice of informing, educating, raising awareness of science-related topics, and increasing the sense of wonder about scientific discoveries and arguments. Science communicators and audiences are ambiguously def ...

, on the international stage.

Vincent van Gogh painting

His professional interests include asteroids and comets, variable stars and extrasolar planets, with many contributions in all those fields. He was able to determine the date that

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...

painted ''

Starry Night Over the Rhone Starry may refer to: * ''Starry'' (The Killjoys album), 1994 * Starry (Purr Machine album) *Donn A. Starry (1925–2011), United States Army general *Starry Lee Starry Lee Wai-king, SBS, JP (, born 13 March 1974 in British Hong Kong) is a ...

'' by studying the star placement.

Virtual Telescope project

In 2006 he started the Virtual Telescope project (part of Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory), consisting of several robotic telescopes, remotely available in real-time over the Internet. Through this system, real-time online observations are performed; sharing the universe with the world. More than 1,000,000 individuals each year observe the sky through the Virtual Telescope.

Awards and honors

He received a number of prizes, including the Ruggieri Prize (2003), the Gene Shoemaker NEO Grant (2005) and the Tacchini Prize (2006) as well as other acknowledgements for his scientific activities. The Nysian asteroid 21795 Masi, discovered by his college

Franco Mallia This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 nu ...

in 1999, was named in his honor.

List of discovered minor planets

References

External links

Biography

The Virtual Telescope Project website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Masi, Gianluca 1972 births * Discoverers of asteroids 21st-century Italian astronomers Living people 20th-century Italian astronomers