- Pietro Tacchini
Pietro Tacchini (
March 21 ,1838 –March 24 ,1905 ) was an Italianastronomer .He was born and raised in
Modena, Italy . He studied engineering at theUniversity of Padova . At the age of 21, he was appointed the director of a small observatory in Modena. By 1863 he became the "Primo Astronomo Aggiunto", or director of the observatory, atPalermo, Italy . He remained there until 1879, and focused most of his attention on observations of the Sun.In 1865 he founded the specialist physical astronomy journal, "Memorie della Società degli Spettroscopisti", and remained the editor until 1905. (This publication later became the "Memorie della Società Astronomica Italiana" in 1920.)
Tacchini established an observation network with other Italian astronomers to spectroscopically examine the sun at about the same time daily. He likewise organized an observatory in
Calcutta to watch the sun when conditions were unfavorable inItaly . In 1874 he led an expedition to Muddapur,India to observe thetransit of Venus across the sun.In 1879 he was summoned to
Rome where he succeededAngelo Secchi at the "Osservatorio del Collegio Romano". In 1881 he became head of the "Ufficio Centrale di Meteorologia".Due to his influence, the Bellini Observatory was completed on
Mount Etna where Pietro believed that the high altitude would improve the spectroscopic observations of the sun, and potentially allow direct observations of the solarcorona without an eclipse. He also recommended the construction of the Catania Observatory in 1885.Tacchini crater on the
Moon is named for him.Further reading
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External links
* [http://www.astropa.unipa.it/HISTORY/history.htm History of the Palermo Observatory]
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