Marco Micheli (born 1983) is an Italian
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 ...
and a
discoverer of minor planets
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 numb ...
. He is a researcher at the
Centre for Earth Observation of
ESA
, owners =
, headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France
, coordinates =
, spaceport = Guiana Space Centre
, seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png
, seal_size = 130px
, image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...
s
Space Situational Awareness Programme
The Space Safety Programme, formerly the Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme, is the European Space Agency's (ESA) initiative to monitor hazards from space, determine their risk, make this data available to the appropriate authorities and w ...
in Italy.
Career
Micheli was born in
Brescia
Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...
, Italy, in 1983. He graduated in 2007 in astronomy and astrophysics at the
University of Pisa
The University of Pisa ( it, Università di Pisa, UniPi), officially founded in 1343, is one of the oldest universities in Europe.
History
The Origins
The University of Pisa was officially founded in 1343, although various scholars place ...
with a thesis on the
YORP effect Yorp or YORP may refer to one of the following:
* 54509 YORP, an Earth co-orbital asteroid
*Yarkovsky–O'Keefe–Radzievskii–Paddack effect, a second-order variation on the Yarkovsky effect
*Yorps, friendly one-eyed Martians from the Commander Ke ...
, and moved for his doctorate to the
University of Hawaii
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...
where he studied
Near-Earth object
A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...
s and how their streams cause
meteor shower
A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extre ...
s.
He then moved to
ESA's Centre for Earth Observation in Frascati, Italy.
As a member of the
Pan-STARRS
The Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS1; List of observatory codes, obs. code: IAU code#F51, F51 and Pan-STARRS2 obs. code: IAU code#F52, F52) located at Haleakala Observatory, Hawaii, US, consists of astronomical c ...
astronomical survey team, he holds the record of new
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.
...
s detected in a single night since 29 January 2011.
According to the
Minor Planet Center
The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
Function
...
(MPC) he discovered between 2005 and 2010 twelve asteroids, partly in collaboration with
Wladimiro Marinello and
Gianpaolo Pizzetti ''(see list)''.
In June 2018 he published a study on
1I/ʻOumuamua, the first
Interstellar object
An interstellar object is an astronomical object (such as an asteroid, a comet, or a rogue planet, but not a star) in interstellar space that is not gravitationally bound to a star. This term can also be applied to an object that is on an interst ...
, where the discovery of a non-gravitational acceleration acting on the object is reported. This suggests that the celestial body may be a
comet
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...
, although it has not shown any noticeable activity in the visual spectrum during transit in the Solar System.
List of discovered minor planets
Awards and honors
Asteroid
10277 Micheli, discovered by American astronomer
Schelte Bus
Schelte John "Bobby" Bus (born 1956) is an American astronomer and discoverer of minor planets at the Institute for Astronomy (Hawaii), Institute for Astronomy of the University of Hawaii and deputy director of NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility ...
at the
Siding Spring Observatory
Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia, part of the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) at the Australian National University (ANU), incorporates the Anglo-Australian Telescope along with a coll ...
in 1981, was named in his honor. The official was published by the MPC on 13 April 2017 ().
See also
*
References
External links
Scigraph
{{DEFAULTSORT:Micheli, Marco
1983 births
Living people
People from Brescia
*
Discoverers of minor planets