12 sights of Christmas: astronomy observing targets for the festive season

An article by Vatican Observatory director Br. Guy Consolmagno was featured on the BBC’s Sky at Night on Nov. 22, 2019.  In the article, Br. Guy reveals his top 12 targets to observe in the night sky this Christmas!

The full article on Sky at Night includes images and comments for each object, and equipment needed to view them.
https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/12-sights-of-christmas-astronomy-observing-targets-for-the-festive-season/

Why is there a Vatican Observatory? When did it start? What is the Vatican Observatory Foundation?

Vatican astronomers can help answer some basic human questions, like: Why are we here? Where did we come from? Are there others out there? Hear about the observatory, the telescope and our projects directly from those involved. Understand who we are, what we do and why we exist.

2018 Vatican Observatory Summer School in Astrophysics

Vatican Observatory Foundation


The VOSS 2018 will train the next generation of researchers on the marvels of big data, time domain astrophysics, and variability surveys. We are building an exciting programme that links variable stars with photometric and spectroscopic surveys, and then gives an overview concerning the impact that stellar astrophysics has on current astrophysical and cosmological open problems.

MAIN THEMES

  • Theory of stellar pulsation and evolution: pulsation and evolutionary properties of radial variables (RR Lyrae; classical, type II, anomalous Cepheids; SX Phoenicis).
  • Stellar kinematics: radial velocities and proper motions.
  • Variable star searches in large databases: Current statistics, sample biases, variability detection, period search techniques, variable star classification,
  • Variables as stellar population tracers: pulsating stars vs eclipsing binaries. Distance indicators (RR Lyse, Cepheids, Miras and LPVs), Rare variability: Microlensing and Transients.
  • Current and future large astronomical databases: 2MASS, Gaia, VVV, OGLE, Kepler, GLIMPSE, WISE, WFIRST, LSST, SDSS, TESS, PLATO, EUCLID, PS2.

2016 Vatican Observatory Summer School

Vatican Observatory Foundation

Papal audienceTwenty-three students representing 19 countries and the faculty of the 2016 Vatican Observatory Summer School meet and greet Pope Francis while studying Water in the Universe.