Italian Contributions To Planetary Astronomy From The Discovery Of Ceres To Plutos Orbit 1st Edition Ileana Chinnici by Ileana Chinnici, Wayne Orchiston, Marc Rothenberg, Clifford Cunningham, Trudy Bell, David Devorkin, James Evans, Miller Goss, Duane Hamacher, James Lequeux, Simon Mitton, Clive Ruggles, Virginia Trimble, Gudrun Wolfschmidt 9783031483882, 303148388X instant download after payment.

This book describes the most important contributions of Italian astronomers to the development of planetary astronomy during the nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century. This journey through what may be regarded as the golden era of Italian astronomy commences with the discovery of Ceres, the first asteroid, now classified as a dwarf planet, and culminates in the role played by the Padua Observatory in calculating Pluto’s orbit in the 1930s. Along the way, a wealth of information is provided on the discovery of many comets and asteroids, early spectroscopic observations, drawings of planets and comets, calculations of orbits and ephemerides, and much more. The contributions of such famous figures as Giovanni Schiaparelli, Giovanni Battista Donati, Angelo Secchi, and Annibale De Gasparis are fully explained. Many of the described results are still of interest for modern astronomy, and the book appeals to a wide readership, including scholars, historians, astronomers, and the general public.