Tombelli, Maura

Maura Tombelli ( Italian: Maura Tombelli , November 8, 1952 ) is an Italian female astronomer and discoverer of asteroids working at the Asiago Observatory . In the period from 1994 to 2002, she discovered a total of 195 asteroids , of which nine were discovered by her independently ^[1] . Thus, in terms of the number of discovered asteroids, it is ahead of all other Italian astronomers.

Maura Tombelli began her training in 1987 as an observer of variable stars at the Arcetri Observatory , where she soon defended her thesis. Since 1994, she began an active five-year search for asteroids at the Asiago Observatory together with Ulysses Munari and at the Arcetri Observatory together with Giuseppe Forti . She shared many observations with other pioneers, especially characteristic of near-Earth asteroids . In particular, she discovered the near-Earth asteroid (15817) Lucanothezi from the Amur group , which became the first near-Earth asteroid discovered by an Italian astronomer. ^{[ clarify ]}

Currently ^{[ when? ]} Maura Tombelli participates in the construction of an observatory near her hometown of Montelupo Fiorentino , is part of the Gruppo Italiano Astrometristi group, coordinating the work of Italian amateur astronomers in the field of astrometric research and the search for new asteroids ^[2] and is the only Italian specialist in the field astrometry ^[3] .

In recognition of her merits, one of the asteroids was given her name (9904) Maratombelli ^[3] .