G. Pascoli Observatory

The G. Pascoli Observatory sits in Castelvecchio Pascoli, a village in the Lucca province of Tuscany, Italy, named after the poet Giovanni Pascoli, who lived nearby.

About G. Pascoli Observatory

Registered with the Minor Planet Center under observatory code K63, the site is dedicated to asteroid astrometry and small-body research. Observations at the facility are carried out by Roberto Bacci, whose work has been noted by Italy's Unione Astrofili Italiani (UAI) in connection with asteroid tracking and impact events, including the 2024 BX1 impactor observed over Berlin.

Telescopes & research

The observatory is equipped with a 0.30-metre f/4 reflector and a 0.40-metre f/3.2 Newtonian reflector, both fitted with CCD cameras. This instrumentation is used primarily for precise positional measurements of asteroids, contributing data used by the wider minor-planet tracking community.

Location & getting there

Castelvecchio Pascoli lies in the hills of the Serchio valley in Tuscany, an area known for its literary history as much as its dark rural skies, which suit the observatory's astrometric work.

Visiting G. Pascoli Observatory

As a working research site rather than a public visitor centre, access is likely limited; anyone interested in visiting should reach out through Italian amateur astronomy networks such as UAI before planning a trip.

See your named star from here

An observatory built for tracking objects by their exact coordinates is a natural place to appreciate what a named star means: a fixed point in the sky that can be found from anywhere, including this corner of Tuscany. Name a star and check its position in our catalogue.