Claudio Costa got a new telescope, and has been doing some amazing astrophotography with it!
New Telescope Specs
| The New Telescope |
|---|
| Aperture size: 160mm Focal length: 1120mm Focal ratio: f/7 More info here |
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.
Astrophoto Gallery
Full Moon Guest
Claudio was the guest for the Vatican Observatory Foundation Full Moon Meetup on July 21, 2024.
If you’d like to attend our monthly Full Moon meetups, join our Sacred Space Astronomy community!
Editor: I just LOVE that photo of Claudio and the boy at the telescope! So much so, here’s the original!
Asteroid Costafrancini
Asteroid (730495) Costafrancini was named after Claudio and his wife! Here’s the IAU’s citation for them:
(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.
I wrote about them and their asteroid in this post.
Claudio’s old telescope was no slouch either!
