An asteroid has been named after long-time Specola staff member Claudio Costa, and his wife Carla Francini!
IAU Citation
(730495) Costafrancini = 2012 HH58
Discovery: 2012-04-18 / K. Černis, R. P. Boyle * / Mount Graham / 290
Claudio Costa (b. 1955) is an Italian amateur astronomer and technical expert at the Vatican Observatory. He observes stellar occultations and leads groups for observations at the Carte du Ciel telescope. His wife Carla Francini (b. 1962) holds a master’s degree in mathematics and has worked with the Vilnius photometric system together with F. Smriglio.
Asteroid Orbit
Asteroid (730495) Costafrancini is a main-belt asteroid with an inclination of 11.376°, and an orbital period of 5.29 years.
About Claudio Costa and Carla Francini
Claudio Costa was appointed Technical Assistant to the Director of the Vatican Observatory with the task of maintaining their historical instruments at their headquarters in Castel Gandolfo. Claudio directed the restoration project of these instruments that made them available for educational and informative activities.
Claudio met Carla Francini in 1982 at the Monte Mario Observatory in Rome. She was a student of Applied Mathematics with a strong passion for Astronomy. Her doctoral thesis was on computer analysis of the Vilnius photometric data collected with various telescopes (including those taken by Richard Boyle, S.J. with the Vatican Schmidt telescope in Castel Gandolfo) under supervision of Prof. Filippo Smriglio who had a long term cooperation with Rev. Boyle. They married in 1989 by the late Fr. George Coyne, S.J.
A match made in heaven, if ever I saw one! This is the first time I’ve seen the last names of a married couple combined for an asteroid name – that’s pretty cool!
Claudio has been a part of the Specola longer than anyone else. Among other accomplishments, he obtained some of the first CCD images of the spots on Jupiter made by the initial impact of Comet Shoemaker Levy in 1994.
About the Asteroid Discoverers
Dr. Kazimieras Černis
(born November 11, 1958, Vilnius) is a Lithuanian astronomer and astrophysicist, active member of the IAU, and a prolific discoverer of minor planets and comets. He is a chief researcher at the Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy (ITPA).
In 2012, he discovered 420356 Praamzius, a trans-Neptunian object and dwarf planet candidate. – Wikipedia
In IAU WGSBN Bulletin V004_006, there were six named asteroids with Černis listed as the discoverer, including (191775) Poczobut.
Rev. Richard P. Boyle, S.J.
Rev. Boyle specializes in observational astronomy, in studies of stellar populations in Milky Way Galaxy star clusters and in research of the atmospheres of giant red stars. By making observations at VATT he collaborates with astronomers pursuing research on various objects like brown dwarfs, sdB stars for astroseismology, and discovery of solar system asteroids.
About the Carte du Ciel
Astronomers in Paris in 1887 set up the basis for the first photographically-based atlas of the stars: the Carte du Ciel (Map of the Sky). Based on photos, first a map and then a catalogue of the stars would be made. Eighteen observatories located in countries on all continents participated in the project. The photographic plates taken by the Vatican Observatory for the Carte du Ciel have recently be digitized.
The Vatican Observatory’s historic Carte du Ciel telescope is now used for public outreach.
