04:18 pm - Monday
Italian scientist discovers a new comet
Rome, Italy - The first confirmation of its existence comes from astrophiles of Remanzacco
(WAPA) - Andrea Boattini, Italian astronomer who currently works in the United States at the "Mount Lemmon" Observatory, Arizona, has recently discovered a new comet, called C/2007W (Boattini). The announcement has been given on November 23rd by the International Astronomical Union.
The new comet has been localized in the Venus constellation on November 20th through some takes carried out with a 1.5m diameter telescope displaced in Arizona.
The first who confirmed the new comet's existence were the Italian astrophiles Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero (Observatory of Remanzacco, Udine). On November 21st they used a 0,25m diameter telescope placed in a desert upland of New Mexico (USA) and controlled via internet from Italy.
On November 23rd the cometary nature of the object was confirmed by the astronomer C. Snodgrass thanks to a big telescope (3.6m of diameter) at the European Austral Observatory of La Silla (Chile).
According to the preliminary orbital parameters, the comet will pass near the perihelion in June 2008, and it could become reasonably observable for some weeks through an optical help, like binoculars.
Andrea Boattini, 38, took a degree in Astronomy at the Bolougne University. He worked at the Space Astrophysics and Cosmic Physics Institute and the National Astrophysics Institute of Rome National Research Centre. He is a comet and asteroid specialist, particularly for those more dangerous for the Earth due to their orbit (see AVIONEWS 1, 2 and 3). (Avionews)
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Direttore Clara Moschini