Sormano Astronomical Observatory


The Sormano Astronomical Observatory is an astronomical observatory north of Milan, Italy. Located near the Swiss border at 1000 meters altitude at the mountain village of Sormano in the pre-Alps, the observatory was privately funded by the Gruppo Astrofili Brianza and built in 1986.

Description

The observatory is known for its astrometric observations of minor planets and comets in the Solar System. After its first light in January 1989, several amateur astronomers such as Marco Cavagna, Valter Giuliani, Piero Sicoli, Pierangelo Ghezzi, Francesco Manca, Paolo Chiavenna, Graziano Ventre and Augusto Testa have made their minor planet discoveries at the observatory using its 50-centimeter "Cavagna Telescope", a Ritchey–Chrétien astrograph. Astronomers at Sormano have developed their own custom software to make follow-up observations of near-Earth objects such as 4179 Toutatis and 99942 Apophis.
The Eunomia asteroid 6882 Sormano, discovered by Piero Sicoli and Valter Giuliani, was named in honor of the village and its discovering nearby observatory. Naming citation was published on 3 May 1996.

Sormano 2 Observatory

A second observatory, Sormano 2 Observatory is located nearby, at 373 meters altitude, just south of Bellagio. The observatory also conducts astrometric observations, such as of the near-Earth object in February 2018, using a 0.28-meter reflector.

Discoveries

The Minor Planet Center credits the discovery of 344581 Albisetti directly to the Sormano Astronomical Observatory. It is Italian Walter Albisetti.