Ettore Flaccomio
Flaccomio
I study young stars and their high-energy magnetic activity: a natural laboratory for understanding stellar evolution, protoplanetary disks, and the environments in which planets form.
My researchORCIDFull bibliographyAll publications on ADSItaliano
Observing stars while they are still young
I am a senior researcher at the INAF – Astronomical Observatory of Palermo. My work is mainly observational and focuses on the earliest stages of stellar evolution, with particular attention to X-ray emission, magnetic activity, and variability in low-mass stars.
I use ground- and space-based observations, often obtained simultaneously at several wavelengths, to connect processes in stellar coronae with the photosphere, accretion, and circumstellar disks.
From hot plasma to the birthplaces of planets
Magnetic activity and flares
I investigate coronal emission and flares in pre-main-sequence stars, their energy distributions, and their relationship with stellar rotation and structure.
Star–disk interaction
I study how X-ray radiation and flares affect the ionisation, heating, and evolution of protoplanetary disks.
Clusters and star formation
I contribute to observing campaigns on NGC 2264, Orion, Cygnus OB2, and Westerlund 1, combining X-ray, optical, and infrared diagnostics.
Surveys and missions
I take part in international collaborations including Gaia-ESO, EWOCS, and PLATO, from stellar characterisation to the interpretation of survey samples.
More than twenty years studying young stars
Today · INAF – Astronomical Observatory of Palermo. Research on young stellar populations and high-energy processes, with recent contributions to the X-ray surveys of Cygnus OB2 and Westerlund 1 and to the PLATO mission.
2010s. Coordinated Chandra–CoRoT–Spitzer campaigns on NGC 2264, multi-band flares, and disk responses to stellar radiation.
2000s. COUP studies of coronal activity, rotational modulation, and flares in solar-mass stars during their first few million years.
2002. PhD research on the evolution of coronal activity from pre-main-sequence stars to the zero-age main sequence.
Publications
2026 · EWOCS-VII: Unveiling the faint diffuse X-ray emission in Westerlund 1
Astronomy & Astrophysics 713, A79.
2026 · Selection and characterisation of the M dwarf targets in the PLATO Input Catalogue
Astronomy & Astrophysics 706, A207.
2025 · EWOCS-IV: 1Ms ACIS Chandra observation of the supergiant B[e] star Wd1-9
Astronomy & Astrophysics 701, A138.
2025 · The PLATO mission
Experimental Astronomy 59.
2024 · EWOCS-II: X-ray properties of the Wolf–Rayet stars in the young Galactic super star cluster Westerlund 1
Astronomy & Astrophysics 690, A179.
2023 · X-Ray Spectral Characterization of the Young Cygnus OB2 Population · FIRST AUTHOR
The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 269, 12.
2023 · Spatial and dynamical structure of the NGC 2264 star-forming region · FIRST AUTHOR
Astronomy & Astrophysics 670, A37.
2018 · A multi-wavelength view of magnetic flaring from PMS stars · FIRST AUTHOR
Astronomy & Astrophysics 620, A55.
Time windows updated on 29 September 2026. The list includes all first-author papers from the past 10 years and co-authored papers from the past 2 years; preprints and duplicate records are excluded.
INAF · Palermo
INAF – Astronomical Observatory of Palermo “Giuseppe Salvatore Vaiana”, Piazza del Parlamento 1, 90134 Palermo, Italy.