Antonio Abetti

Antonio Abetti was an Italian astronomer.
Born in San Pietro di Gorizia, he earned a degree in mathematics and engineering at the University of Padua. He was married to Giovanna Colbachini in 1879 and they had two sons. He died in Arcetri.

Work

Abetti mainly worked in positional astronomy and made many observations of minor planets, comets, and star occultations. He computed the orbit of 170 Maria, a Main belt asteroid.
In 1874 he was part of an Italian expedition to Muddapur, in India, led by Pietro Tacchini to observe a transit of Venus with a spectroscope. Later he became director of the Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri and a professor at the University of Florence. He refurbished the observatory at Arcetri by installing a new telescope.

Honors

Member of the Accademia dei Lincei.
Member of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The crater Abetti on the Moon is named after both Antonio and his son Giorgio Abetti.
The minor planet 2646 Abetti is also named after Antonio and his son.