Abetti mainly worked in
positional astronomy and made many observations of minor planets, comets, and star occultations. He computed the
orbit of
170 Maria, a Main belt
asteroid. In 1874 he was part of an Italian expedition to Muddapur, in India, led by
Pietro Tacchini to observe a
transit of Venus with a
spectroscope. Later he became director of the
Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri and a professor at the
University of Florence. He refurbished the observatory at Arcetri by installing a new telescope. ==Honours==