Astronomer / Planetary Scientist
Fixed-Term Contract Researcher of the Instituto de Astrofísica e Ciências do Espaço, and teacher of Planetary Sciences, based at the Physics Department and the Geophysical and Astronomical Observatory of the University of Coimbra of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra, Portugal.
Fields of Research / Interests
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Planetary Sciences, Minor bodies of the Solar System: Kuiper Belt, Trans-Neptunian Objects, Centaurs, Comets, Asteroids, NEOs, and other families, Space Weathering, Space Debris, Solar Physics, Education and Public Outreach: both with and without Planetariums.
Publications
Brief Curriculum
Nuno Vasco Munhoz Peixinho Miguel, a.k.a. Nuno Peixinho, is the Portuguese Delegate at the European Southern Observatory Users' Committee (ESO UC), a National Astronomy Education Co-Coordinator (NAEC) of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), he was Co-Assistant Director of the Geophysical and Astronomical Observatory of the University of Coimbra (OGAUC) and he is the Coordinator of its Astronomy and Space Sciences Promotion Unit (UPACE), being also a Member of the Scientific Council of the Institute of Interdisciplinary Research of the University of Coimbra (IIIUC). He is Member of the Directory Board of the Teachers' Union of the Central Region (SPRC/FENPROF), and a Member of the Directory Board of the Association of Research Grant Holders (ABIC). He teaches Planetary Sciences at the Physics Department of FCTUC, he operates the Planetarium of the University of Coimbra, and he is a volunteer observer of OGAUC's Spectro-Heliograph in order to keep its daily service of solar observations running unbrokenly since 1926. He has been awarded with the naming of asteroid (40210) Peixinho.
Before his current position he was a Management of Science and Technology Fellow at OGAUC for three years, while being an Ex Gratia Invited Professor at the Department of Physics of FCTUC, and before that he was a Professor at the Unidad de Astronomía de la Universidade de Antofagasta (UAUA), in Chile, for three years also. He was a Research Associate at the Department of Mathematics of FCTUC for five years, and a Post-Doctorate Fellow at the Institute for Astronomy (IfA) of the University of Hawaii, USA, for two year, spending one more year at the Astrophysics Group of the University of Coimbra (GAUC). He obtained a PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics by the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (FCUL), Portugal, in 2005, in a shared thesis between the Observatoire de Paris - Meudon, France, and the Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics of the University of Lisbon (CAAUL). Before his Masters in Astronomy and Astrophysics by FCUL, in 2001, he was a Coordinator of the Outreach Unit of the Center for Astrophysics of the University of Porto (CAUP) / Planetarium of Porto, and he obtained his Licenciatura in Physics / Applied Mathematics (Astronomy) at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Porto (FCUP), in 1996.
