description Dante Minniti Overview
Dante Minniti is an Argentine astronomer and professor at the Universidad Andrés Bello in Chile. He is best known as the co-principal investigator of the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) and VVVX surveys, which use the VISTA telescope at the European Southern Observatory to map the Milky Way's bulge and southern disk. His research focuses on the galaxy's structure, stellar populations, and the discovery of new variable stars, exoplanets, and star clusters.
help Dante Minniti FAQ
Where does Dante Minniti work, and what is he known for?
Dante Minniti is an Argentine astronomer who is a professor at Universidad Andrés Bello in Chile. He is the principal investigator of ESO's VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea survey, known as VVV, and its VVVX extension. [VVV Survey](https://vvvsurvey.org/dante/), [ESO](https://www.eso.org/sci/observing/PublicSurveys/sciencePublicSurveys.html)
What does the VVV survey look for?
VVV uses near-infrared imaging to monitor the Milky Way's central bulge and southern plane, where dust makes visible-light observations difficult. ESO describes the original survey as covering about 520 square degrees and using repeated observations to find variable stars and map the Galaxy. [ESO](https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/surveytelescopes/vista/surveys/)
What is VVVX, and how is it different from VVV?
VVVX extends the original VVV footprint and time baseline, adding more southern Galactic-plane coverage and repeated observations for proper motions and variable stars. Its data are collected with VIRCAM on ESO's 4.1-metre VISTA telescope. [ESO](https://www.eso.org/sci/observing/PublicSurveys/sciencePublicSurveys.html)
What did the VVV and VVVX project produce recently?
A 2024 ESO release described an infrared Milky Way map containing more than 1.5 billion objects, built from about 200,000 VISTA images and 500 terabytes of data gathered over more than 13 years. Minniti was identified by ESO as the project leader. [ESO](https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2413/)
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