Antonio Vagnozzi (born 1950) is an amateur
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
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 o ...
and a discoverer of
asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet of the Solar System#Inner solar system, 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 o ...
s.
Astronomical career
Vagnozzi is credited by 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) with the discovery of 46
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 '' ...
s during 1993–1999.
In 1993, he was Italy's first amateur astronomer (and the second discoverer worldwide) to discover a minor planet using a CCD camera. (The first numbered CCD-based discovery was
4255 Spacewatch, which was discovered by the
Spacewatch
The Spacewatch Project is an astronomical survey that specializes in the study of minor planets, including various types of asteroids and comets at University of Arizona telescopes on Kitt Peak near Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. The Spa ...
project in 1986).
He also searches for supernovae and is a co-discoverer of
SN 1996ae.
Awards and honors
The main-belt asteroid
7529 Vagnozzi was named in his honor.
The official naming citation was published by the MPC on 11 April 1998 ().
List of discovered minor planets
See also
*
*
Santa Lucia Stroncone Astronomical Observatory
References
1950 births
20th-century Italian astronomers
Discoverers of asteroids
*
Living people
{{Italy-astronomer-stub