Named in memory of Pietro Tacchini (1838–1905), Italian astronomer. He was a pioneer, with Secchi {see planet  (4705)}, of astrophysics in Italy and cofounded the Società degli Spettroscopisti Italiani (1871), now the Italian Astronomical Society. Director of the Modena Observatory from 1859 to 1863, he moved to the Palermo Observatory in 1879. In 1902, he was called to Rome to become director of the Central Office of Meteorology and of the Astronomical Observatory of Collegio Romano. He also studied meteorology and seismology and founded the Società Sismologica Italiana (1895). (M 32349) _ _.