Vincenzo Silvano Casulli

Vincenzo Silvano Casulli, usually known as Silvano Casulli (25 August 1944 – 24 July 2018^[2]) was an Italian amateur astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets at his Vallemare di Borbona Observatory (A55) in Lazio.

He is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of 192 minor planets.^[1] In 1985 he served on a team involved in using the Hubble Space Telescope in a study that focused on Transition Comets—UV Search for OH Emissions in Asteroids. He was the first amateur astronomer to obtain precise astronometric positions of minor planets using a CCD camera. He is a prolific discoverer of asteroids.

In 1997, the inner main-belt asteroid and member of the Flora family, 7132 Casulli, was named by astronomer Antonio Vagnozzi in his honor (M.P.C. 30800).^[3][4]

On 24 February 1998, he discovered 9121 Stefanovalentini at the Italian Colleverde Observatory. It is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer regions of the main-belt, approximately 30 kilometers in diameter.^[5][6] Casulli also obtained a light-curve from photometric observations and determined a period of 11.84 hours for the body's rotation.^[6][7] He named it in honour of amateur astronomer Stefano Valentini.^[8]

Together with Italian astronomer Ermes Colombini and others, he co-discovered the asteroid 93061 Barbagallo on 23 September 2000. The group-discovery is credited to the discovering observatory, Osservatorio San Vittore, Bologna. The asteroid was named after Mariano Barbagallo, an Italian colleague and friend of Colombini.^[9]

• ASTEROIDE N. 7132, on the naming of asteroid 7132 Casulli, including image of Silvano Casulli
• Colleverde di Guidonia, Gruppo Astrofili Montagna Pistoiese