founder the spaceguard foundation
The Spaceguard Foundation ( SGF ) is a private organization based in Frascati , ___MASK35___ , whose purpose is to study , discover and observe near - Earth objects ( NEO ) and protect the Earth from the possible threat of their collision . The foundation is non - partisan , non - political and non - profit , and acts as the international organization grouping together the spaceguard organizations in various countries , as well as individual astronomers and organizations interested in the foundation ' s activities . The foundation was established in Rome in 1996 . Since then , it has moved into the ESA Centre for Earth Observation ( ESRIN ) at Frascati . As of 2007 , Italian astronomer Andrea Carusi heads the foundation . The euro ( sign : €; code : EUR ) is the official currency of the eurozone , which consists of 19 of the member states of the European Union : Austria , ___MASK98___ , Cyprus , Estonia , Finland , ___MASK56___ , Germany , Greece , Ireland , Italy , Latvia , Lithuania , Luxembourg , Malta , the ___MASK43___ , Portugal , Slovakia , Slovenia , and Spain . The currency is also officially used by the institutions of the European Union and four other European countries , as well as unilaterally by two others , and is consequently used daily by some 337 million Europeans . Outside of Europe , a number of overseas territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency . Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia ( Slovene : , abbr .: " RS "), is a nation state in southern Central Europe , located at the crossroads of main European cultural and trade routes . It is bordered by ___MASK35___ to the west , Austria to the north , Hungary to the northeast , Croatia to the south and southeast , and the Adriatic Sea to the southwest . It covers and has a population of 2 . 06 million . It is a parliamentary republic and a member of the United Nations , European Union , and NATO . The capital and largest city is Ljubljana . The term Spaceguard loosely refers to a number of efforts to discover and study near - Earth objects ( NEO ), especially those that may impact earth . The ( plural : "") is a basic administrative division in ___MASK35___ , roughly equivalent to a township or municipality . A near - Earth object ( NEO ) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth . By definition , a solar system body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun ( perihelion ) is less than ___MASK69___ . 3 astronomical unit ( AU ). NEOs include more than fourteen thousand near - Earth asteroids ( NEAs ), more than one hundred near - Earth comets ( NECs ), and a number of solar - orbiting spacecraft and meteoroids , large enough to be tracked in space before striking the Earth . It is now widely accepted that collisions in the past have had a significant role in shaping the geological and biological history of the Earth . NEOs have become of increased interest since the 1980s because of increased awareness of the potential danger some of the asteroids or comets pose , and mitigations are being researched . In January 2016 , NASA announced the Planetary Defense Coordination Office to track NEOs larger than 30 to 50 meters in diameter and coordinate an effective threat response and mitigation effort . Frascati is a town and " comune " in the Metropolitan City of Rome in the Lazio region of central ___MASK35___ . It is located south - east of Rome , on the Alban Hills close to the ancient city of Tusculum . Frascati is closely associated with science , being the location of several international scientific laboratories . ___MASK44___ , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic in Europe . It consists of 26 cantons , and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities . The country is situated in Western - Central Europe , and is bordered by ___MASK35___ to the south , ___MASK56___ to the west , Germany to the north , and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east . ___MASK44___ is a landlocked country geographically divided between the Alps , the Swiss Plateau and the Jura , spanning an area of . While the Alps occupy the greater part of the territory , the Swiss population of approximately eight million people is concentrated mostly on the plateau , where the largest cities are to be found : among them are the two global cities and economic centres Zürich and Geneva . Tusculum is a ruined Roman city in the Alban Hills , in the Latium region of ___MASK35___ . Rome is a city and special " comune " ( named " ___MASK73___ ") in Italy . Rome is the capital of Italy and of the Lazio region . With 2 , 870 , 336 residents in , it is also the country ' s largest and most populated " comune " and fourth - most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits . The Metropolitan City of Rome has a population of 4 . 3 million residents . The city is located in the central - western portion of the Italian Peninsula , within Lazio ( Latium ), along the shores of Tiber river . The Vatican City is an independent country geographically located within the city boundaries of Rome , the only existing example of a country within a city : for this reason Rome has been often defined as capital of two states . ___MASK35___ , officially the Italian Republic , is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe . Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea , ___MASK35___ shares open land borders with ___MASK56___ , Switzerland , Austria , Slovenia , San Marino and Vatican City . ___MASK35___ covers an area of and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate ; due to its shape , it is often referred to in ___MASK35___ as " lo Stivale " ( the Boot ). With 61 million inhabitants , it is the fourth most populous EU member state . ___MASK56___ , officially the French Republic , is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories . The European , or metropolitan , area of ___MASK56___ extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea , and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean . Overseas ___MASK56___ include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic , Pacific and Indian oceans . ___MASK56___ spans and had a total population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017 . It is a unitary semi - presidential republic with the capital in Paris , the country ' s largest city and main cultural and commercial centre . Other major urban centres include Marseille , Lyon , ___MASK87___ , Nice , Toulouse and Bordeaux . San Marino , officially the Republic of San Marino , also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino , is an enclaved microstate surrounded by ___MASK35___ , situated on the Italian Peninsula on the northeastern side of the Apennine Mountains . Its size is just over , with a population of 33 , 562 . Its capital is the City of San Marino and its largest city is Dogana . San Marino has the smallest population of all the members of the Council of Europe . The Alban Hills are the site of a quiescent volcanic complex in ___MASK35___ , located southeast of Rome and about north of Anzio . An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who concentrates their studies on a specific question or field outside of the scope of Earth . They look at stars , planets , moons , comets and galaxies , as well as many other celestial objects  either in observational astronomy , in analyzing the data or in theoretical astronomy . Examples of topics or fields astronomers work on include : planetary science , solar astronomy , the origin or evolution of stars , or the formation of galaxies . There are also related but distinct subjects like physical cosmology which studies the Universe as a whole . A planet is an astronomical body orbiting a star or stellar remnant that The term " planet " is ancient , with ties to history , astrology , science , mythology , and religion . Several planets in the Solar System can be seen with the naked eye . These were regarded by many early cultures as divine , or as emissaries of deities . As scientific knowledge advanced , human perception of the planets changed , incorporating a number of disparate objects . In 2006 , the ___MASK100___ ( IAU ) officially adopted a resolution defining planets within the Solar System . This definition is controversial because it excludes many objects of planetary mass based on where or what they orbit . Although eight of the planetary bodies discovered before 1950 remain " planets " under the modern definition , some celestial bodies , such as Ceres , Pallas , Juno and Vesta ( each an object in the solar asteroid belt ), and Pluto ( the first trans - Neptunian object discovered ), that were once considered planets by the scientific community , are no longer viewed as such . Lazio (; ) is one of the 20 administrative regions of ___MASK35___ , situated in the central peninsular section of the country . With almost 5 . 9 million residents and a GDP of more than 170 billion euros , Lazio is the second most populated region of ___MASK35___ ( having approximately the same in population as Campania ), and has the second largest economy of the nation . Its capital is Rome , capital and largest city of ___MASK35___ .