Dennis di Cicco (born 1950) is an American amateur

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, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

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 nu ...

, who lives in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

. He has discovered 60 numbered asteroids from his backyard observatory in Sudbury, Massachusetts (

IAU code This is a list of observatory codes (IAU codes or MPC codes) published by the Minor Planet Center. For a detailed description, ''see observations of small Solar System bodies Observations of minor planets as well as comets and natural satellites ...

817 __NOTOC__ Year 817 ( DCCCXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Emperor Louis I issues an ''Ordinatio Imperii'', an imperial de ...

). He was a member of the editorial staff of ''

Sky and Telescope ''Sky & Telescope'' (''S&T'') is a monthly American magazine covering all aspects of amateur astronomy, including the following: *current events in astronomy and space exploration; *events in the amateur astronomy community; *reviews of astronomic ...

'' magazine from 1974 until his resignation as senior editor in June 2014. His special interests include astronomical photography and the history of astronomical photography,

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observ ...

making, and astronomical observing. During 1978 and 1979 he was the first person to successfully photograph the

analemma In astronomy, an analemma (; ) is a diagram showing the position of the Sun in the sky as seen from a fixed location on Earth at the same mean solar time, as that position varies over the course of a year. The diagram will resemble a figure ...

, making 48 separate exposures on a single piece of film during a 12-month period. The project is described in the June 1979 issue of ''Sky & Telescope''. The asteroid 3841 Dicicco was named after him. Di Cicco conducted observations and calculations to determine the exact time and date of Ansel Adams’ famous photograph,

Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico ''Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico'' is a black-and-white photograph taken by Ansel Adams, late in the afternoon on November 1, 1941, from a shoulder of highway US 84 / US 285 in the unincorporated community of Hernandez, New Me ...

. He grew up in Hanover, Massachusetts.

List of discovered minor planets

References

1950 births 20th-century American astronomers Discoverers of asteroids * Living people {{US-astronomer-stub

List of discovered minor planets

See also

References