People

Carmelo Arcidiacono

INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, +39 049 82935414, carmelo.arcidiacono # inaf.it

He obtained Ph.D. in astronomy in 2005 and works a staff researcher at the INAF since 2011. He dedicates to the development of astronomical instruments since 2001, focusing on adaptive optics, especially numerical simulations, laboratory testing, instrument commissioning, data analysis, and science targets definition. To date, he is leading the Science Operation Working Group of the MAORY Multi conjugate Adaptive Optics Module for the ELT, and he is the chair of the Science Team as Instrument Scientist,.

Giuliana Fiorentino

She obtained her PhD in Astronomy in 2006. She is currently staff researcher at INAF - OAR. Her scientific interest is the study of resolved stellar populations within our Local Group and beyond., using the information imprinted in stars, and in their luminosity variability, to investigate galaxy formation and evolution and to constrain key cosmological parameter such as the Hubble constant. She has had key-roles in the science team involved in future instrumentation for ELT, i.e. MICADO (phase A, team member) and MAORY (phase B, Instrument Scientist and co-chair of the science team).

Andrea Grazian

INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, +39 049 8293465 , andrea.grazian# inaf.it

Andrea Grazian enrolled in INAF as researcher in Astronomy in 2008. He is interested in high redshift galaxies and AGNs, and their role on the production of ionizing photons and Reionization of the Universe. He was part of the team for EUCLID and currently is involved in LSST and MAVIS. He is the project manager of the PSF-Reconstruction Working Group of MICADO, a first light instrument of ESO-ELT.

Marco Gullieuszik

INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, +39 049 8293434, marco.gullieuszik# inaf.it

Staff researcher at INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova. He is an expert of data reduction and analysis and he is currently involved in a number of projects aimed at studying the evolution of galaxies using both photometric and spectroscopic -including integral field spectroscopy- observations. He led the data reduction and analysis of OmegaWINGS, a survey of nearby galaxy clusters based on VST photometry and AAOmega spectroscopy and GASP, an ESO Large Programme aimed at studying gas stripping phenomena in galaxies with MUSE at the VLT. He was involved in the scientific analysis of the data taken with the ESO VLT Multi-Conjugated Adaptive Optics Demonstrator (MAD); more recently he developed a number of projects aimed at evaluating the performances and developing science cases for AO-assisted next-generation instruments (E-ELT, TMT, and MAVIS). He is currently a member of the MAVIS core science team and MAORY Science Operation Working Group.

Fernando Pedichini

INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma, +39 0694286 489, fernando.pedichini # inaf.it

Staff First Researcher at INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma since 2009, INAF researcher since 1994 and staff since 1991. He is also responsible of the ADONI (ADaptive Optics National Institute) laboratory of Rome. His expertise is focused on the development of focal plane imaging instrumentation and low noise optical detectors. Scientific responsible of the OAR observative station at Campo Imperatore from 1993 to 2000. Since 1998 to 2008 he is the project manager for the design and construction of both LBC prime focus CCD cameras for the LBT. Since 2014 his team started the application of fast cadence imaging to AO telescope (LBT) with the aim to apply powerful post-processing techniques for PSF reconstruction and deconvolution at visible wavelengths. The encouraging preliminary results obtained on 2015 with the Forerunner experiment paved the way to become the PI of SHARK-VIS the innovative high resolution and contrast imager optimized for the search of exoplanets in the visible (h-alpha) at LBT whose first light is foreseen on 2019 Q4. He is currently investigating the application of the SHARK-VIS experience (fast imaging and deconvolution) to an upgrade of the ZIMPOL module of SPHERE (ESO) and inside the novel INAF collaboration MAVIS for an MCAO LGS assisted instrument in the visible at ESO VLT-UT4.

Elisa Portaluri

INAF - Osservatorio di Astronomico d'Abruzzo elisa.portaluri# inaf.it

Post-doc at INAF-Observatory of Padova, she works in the Adaptive Optics Group focusing on the performance simulations of new AO techniques and methods for the next generation of telescopes, both from technical and scientific sides. More recently, as a member of the MAORY Science Operation Team, she is contributing at its evaluation of the scientific performances and development of science cases.

On another side, she is also involved in several projects with the aim of investigating the formation and evolution of galaxies studying the kinematics and dynamics of nearby galaxies and their connection with the galactic nuclei, using photometric and spectroscopic (real and simulated) data.

Matteo Simioni

INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, +39 049 82935547, matteo.simioni # inaf,it

He obtained Ph.D. in Astrophysics in 2019 and works as a postdoc at the INAF since November of that year. He is currently working on the scientific evaluation for the PSF Reconstruction tool of MICADO@ELT, focussing in particular on the simulation of astronomical science case with MICADO and their analysis.

Benedetta Vulcani

INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, +39 049 8293423, benedetta.vulcani # inaf,it

She obtained her Ph.D. in astronomy in 2012 and she is staff researcher at INAF since 2016, currently at the INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova. She is the National Coordinator of the MICADO activities within INAF and involved in the evaluation of the performances of PSF reconstruction tool, through the analysis of a wide range of application in many scientific cases. She works in the extragalactic group and her main interests are in characterizing the formation and evolution of galaxies in different environments, since z~2.

Anita Zanella

INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, +39 049 8293 , anita.zanella# inaf.it

Her research focusses galaxy formation and evolution, with a multiwavelength observational perspective. She is currently investigating what is the molecular gas reservoir of galaxies at cosmic noon, how star formation proceeds at these redshifts (e.g. formation mechanisms of star-forming clumps and their impact on the evolution of the host), and how it is quenched.

Roberto Ragazzoni

INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, +39 049 8293 517, roberto.ragazzoni # inaf.it

He got a degree in Astronomy at the University of Padova in 1990. He worked at the Astronomical Observatory of Padova (Italy), at the Steward Observatory in Tucson (Arizona), at the Center for Astrophysics of the UCSD (California), at the Max Planck Institut fuer Astronomie in Heidelberg (Germany), and at the Astrophysical Observatory of Arcetri in Florence (Italy).

He was awarded of the Wolfgang Paul Prize from the Alexander von Humboldt Society.

His main area of scientific interest is into conceiving, building and operating astronomical instrumentation from the ground or from the outer space. You can give a look to his scientific papers here.

Davide Massari

INAF - Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio di Bologna, davide.massari # inaf.it

"Davide obtained a Ph.D. at the University of Bologna in 2014, working on astrometric and photometric data of Galactic globular clusters. After some experience at INAF-Bologna, at the Leiden Observatory and at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, he has become Staff Astronomer back at INAF-Bologna since 2020. His scientific efforts are dedicated to understanding how the Milky Way has assembled and evolved to its current appearance by studying stars, globular clusters and dwarf galaxies satellites. He is a member of the Gaia, WEAVE and MICADO@ELT collaborations. Within MICADO, he is one of the coordinators of the Astrometry package, and a member of the astrometric and photometric science teams. "

Gabriele Rodeghiero

INAF - Osservatorio di Astronomico d'Abruzzo gabriele.rodeghiero # inaf.it

Gabriele Rodeghiero received his BS and MS degrees in astronomy at the University of Padova in 2008 and 2011 respectively, and his PhD degree in astronomy with focus on  instrumentation for ground-based gamma ray astrophysics in collaboration with INAF in 2015. He worked for five years as post-doctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg as optical lead of the MICADO Calibration Unit and the Standalone Relay Optics in the context of ground-based high-resolution ELT NIR instrumentation. He is staff researcher at INAF since September 2020 to support the MAORY development (AIV and System Engineering) and the MICADO astrometric working group.

Renato Falomo

INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, +39 049 8293 , renato.falomo # inaf.it

PhD in Astronomy at the University of Padova (1979). After some years of work as astronomer at the Observatory of Brera, Milan) and at Asiago observatory he moved to the Observatory of Padova. Science activity : phenomenology of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) in the context of the processes of formation and evolution of galaxies; spectral energy distributions of the nuclei; characterization of the properties of the host galaxies of quasars. In particular a program was carried out for the investigation of the properties of BL Lacertae objects and low redshift radio galaxies using ESO telescopes and HST, the measurements of their black hole masses and the connection between nuclear activity and the processes of galaxy formation. Most recent studies include the cosmic evolution of the QSO host at high redshift using ESO VLT and Adaptive Optics images of AGN. Detailed description of the research work can be found in the research activity web pages. RF is authors of about 200 articles on refereed journals and over 160 other publications (see the on line publication list.)

He served as chairman of the TAC for TNG, REM and LBT observing time. RF was actively involved in the phase. A study for a near-IR camera for E-ELT (MICADO project ). RF is scientific director of the Italian magazine for amateur astronomers COELUM. and was science consultant for Planetario di Padova.

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