Father Francesco de Vico (also known as de Vigo, De Vico and even DeVico; 19 May 1805 in

Macerata Macerata () is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy, the county seat of the province of Macerata in the Marche region. It has a population of about 41,564. History The historical city centre is on a hill between the Chienti and Potenza (ri ...

– 15 November 1848 in London) was an Italian

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

and a

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest.

Biography

He was educated at the college of

Urbino Urbino ( , ; Romagnol: ''Urbìn'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, southwest of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially und ...

, and became in 1835 assistant superintendent, and in 1839 director of the

Vatican Observatory The Vatican Observatory () is an astronomical research and educational institution supported by the Holy See. Originally based in the Roman College of Rome, the Observatory is now headquartered in Castel Gandolfo, Italy and operates a telescope a ...

. The Revolutions of 1848 in the Italian states cut short his observing career, as he was forced into exile, touring Paris, London, and the United States, where he was received by the President. He was pleased with his reception in the U.S. and wished to settle there at Georgetown College, but first returned to Europe to try to recruit some colleagues to join him and purchase instruments for an observatory to be erected under his direction in New York. Unfortunately, worn out from the travel, he died in London in November of that same year

Work

He found a remarkable number of

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...

s in a relatively short time, including periodic comets 54P/de Vico-Swift-NEAT and 122P/de Vico. He also independently discovered the comet ( C/1847 T1) that brought fame to

Maria Mitchell Maria Mitchell ( ; August 1, 1818 – June 28, 1889) was an American astronomer, librarian, naturalist, and educator. In 1847, she discovered a comet named 1847 VI (modern designation C/1847 T1) that was later known as " Miss Mitchell's Comet ...

as "

Miss Mitchell's Comet Miss Mitchell's Comet, formally designated as C/1847 T1, is a non-periodic comet that American astronomer Maria Mitchell discovered in 1847. The discovery was initially credited to Francesco de Vico. Vico, observing from Rome, was the first to ...

", two days after she did. The news did not reach Europe before Father De Vico announced his observation, so it was initially named for him. He received the award from the Danish king, who had offered a prize for the first comet discovered through a

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...

(prior to this time, all comet discoveries were ones that could be seen by the unaided eye). Mitchell was later recognized and awarded a medal as well. He also made observations of

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

and the gaps in its rings (he was the first to see the narrow division in the

rings of Saturn Saturn has the most extensive and complex ring system of any planet in the Solar System. The rings consist of particles in orbit around the planet made almost entirely of water ice, with a trace component of Rock (geology), rocky material. Parti ...

now known as the Keeler Gap after James Keeler). He was noted for his studies of spots on

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

, and unsuccessfully attempted to determine its rotation period. He began an ambitious project to compile an atlas of stars down to 11th

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

. He was also a composer of church music. The

lunar crater Lunar craters are impact craters on Earth's Moon. The Moon's surface has many craters, all of which were formed by impacts. The International Astronomical Union currently recognizes 9,137 craters, of which 1,675 have been dated. History The wo ...

De Vico and the asteroid 20103 de Vico are named after him.

Obituary

MNRAS 9 (1849) 65

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vico, Francesco De 19th-century Italian astronomers 19th-century Italian Jesuits Discoverers of comets 1805 births 1848 deaths Jesuit scientists Recipients of the Lalande Prize

Biography

Work

Obituary

See also

References