PIAZZI200: NEW FRONTIERS IN ASTROMETRY, MINOR BODIES, AND TECHNOLOGIES
(Palermo, Palazzo Steri - 30 Sept-2 Oct 2026)
International Conference
PROGRAMME
WED 30 SEPTEMBER
10.30 – Registration
11.30 – Welcome addresses
12.00 – Giuseppe Piazzi: How an obscure mathematician became a famous European astronomer (Ileana Chinnici)
13.00 – Lunch
Session 1 - Astrometry
14.30 – From Ceres to Neptune: Piazzi’s observational legacy and the development
of nineteenth-century star chart surveys (Klaus Staubermann, invited)
15.10 – The frontier of high-precision astrometry in the 21st Century (Alessandro Sozzetti, invited)
16.00 – Oral presentations
16.30 – Coffee break
17.00-18.00 – Oral presentations
THU 1 OCTOBER
Session 2 – Minor bodies I (Asteroids, Dwarf Planets, TNO)
9.30 – PIAZZI: Father of the asteroids (Clifford Cunningham, invited)
10.10 – The leftover: news and views (M. Cristina De Sanctis, invited)
11.00 – Coffee break
11.30 – Oral presentations
13.00 – Lunch
Session 3 – Minor bodies II (Comets, Meteorites, Debris)
14.30 – The Great Comet of 1811 Observed by Giuseppe Piazzi at the Palermo Observatory (Paolo Del Santo, invited)
15.10 – An overview of the properties of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS (Dominique
Bockelée-Morvan, invited)
16.00 – Oral presentations
16.30 – Coffee break
17.00-18.00 – Oral presentations
20.00 – Conference dinner
FRI 2 OCTOBER
Session 4 – New technologies
9.30 – From Tycho to Piazzi: Two Centuries that Revolutionized Astronomical Observations (Giorgio Strano, invited)
10.10 – New Technologies: Outcome or Engine of Scientific Research? (Roberto Ragazzoni, invited)
11.00 – Coffee break
11.30 – Oral presentations
13.00 – Concluding remarks
Public conference:
Museo Storico dei Motori e dei Meccanismi, Università di Palermo (Viale delle Scienze, Edificio 8 Macchine)
18.00 – Title to be defined (Amedeo Balbi)
SAT 3 OCTOBER (OPTIONAL)
Visits to Piazzi’s places (Palermo Observatory, Museo della Specola, Cathedral, etc.) / excursions (TBD)
