Nationality Italian Fields Astronomy Discovered 704 Interamnia | Role Astronomer Name Vincenzo Cerulli | |
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Born 20 April 1859
Teramo, Italy ( 1859-04-20 ) Died May 30, 1927, Merate, Italy | ||
sp16moo6 vincenzo cerulli
Vincenzo Cerulli (20 April 1859 – 30 May 1927) was an Italian astronomer and founder of the Collurania-Teramo Observatory in Teramo, central Italy, where he was born.
He earned a degree in physics from the University of Rome in 1881.
After a four-year period of study in Germany, where he worked at the observatories of Bonn and Berlin, Cerulli compiled a star catalog with Elia Millosevich. In 1890, he founded his observatory, which he named "Collurania", equipping it with a 40 cm Cooke refractor. He also observed Mars and developed the theory that the Martian canals were not real but an optical illusion, a theory that was later confirmed.
He discovered one asteroid, 704 Interamnia, which is named after the Latin name for Teramo, and is notable for its relatively large diameter of approximately 350 km, which makes it the fifth largest body in the traditional asteroid belt.
Cerulli died at Merate, Province of Lecco, in 1927. The 130-kilometer Martian crater Cerulli, as well as the asteroids 366 Vincentina and 31028 Cerulli are named in his honor.