SECCHI; Pietro A.; 1818-1878; ITA

Priest since 1847, father Secchi was named director of the Roman College after 1849. He discovered the return of comet Biela in 1852. He established the first spectra classification of stars, later matured by CANNON, and discovered that the principal absorption lines in the stellar spectra are produced by carbon. He discovered some nebulae ("Fourteen New Nebulae", Astronomisches Nachrichten).