Cruinniu na nOg – 2019 Apollo 11 Drawing Workshop revisited

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  I really enjoyed taking part in Cruinniu na nOg last year. The preparation, the fun, the smiles,and the work produced. This year because of COVID 19 the events that can be held  online are online.  I have found myself unprepared for it and will miss out this time. However, I am working on some online ideas and hope that these efforts will be useful in the future.  Here is what happened in two of the venues during that festival in  2019. Cruinniu na nOg  means the meeting of the young in the Irish language. Creative activities are funded on that special day by the local authorities all over the country. The overarching body is  called Creative Ireland. Ireland as a country therefore  backs creativity nationwide for all her children. My drawing workshop Let’s Go To The Moon – Apollo 11 became part of this government initiative to stimulate creativity. Cruinniu na nOg is aimed to encourage children to get … Continue reading →

ⓜ A world of surprises

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This entry is part 2 of 21 in the series And Then I Wrote

And then I wrote… in 2014, I was honored with an honorary doctorate from Georgetown University. Of course, they made me sing for my supper… To the president, the provost, the dean, I thank you; honored guests, I greet you; to the Georgetown College Class of 2014, I congratulate you. I am honored to share this stage with you. As you have heard, I am an astronomer; I am also a Jesuit brother. And I work at the Vatican Observatory. A lot of people are surprised to hear that the Vatican City State has its own national observatory. That’s one of the reasons we have it: to surprise people.  But there’s a long and honored history of the Church supporting astronomy. Jesuit astronomers helped Pope Gregory reform the calendar in 1582, and one of those Jesuits, Christopher Clavius, wrote a letter of recommendation for a young Galileo. There’s a crater on the moon named for Father Clavius, along with dozens … Continue reading →

The Blanchinus “X”

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This entry is part 23 of 23 in the series Lunarcy

Our best observing weather is when the days are hot, the evenings warm and still. The colongitude was just right so this was a good night toget a look at the famous “X” on the moon. Can you see it on the terminator? It only lasts for and hour or so. Here’s how you get there. The area below center of this image is dominated by the two circular pools of darkness that are Aliacensis (82km diameter), lower, and Werner (71km) above. A line between the centers of these two craters lead to the “X” formed by the walls of Blanchinus, La Caille, Purbach and several smaller features. Above Aliacensus and Werner is a nice flat floored crater, Apianus (65km) and further above that is a smaller crater Playfair (49km). Near the top of the image is a pair of craters Azophi (49km) and above it is the irregular Abenezra (43km) with Geber (46km) partially cut off by the edge … Continue reading →

In the Sky This Week – May 12, 2020

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This entry is part 146 of 148 in the series In the Sky This Week

When it comes to astronomy, asteroids are pretty much my favorite subject; the Sun comes in #2 by a wide margin. I have a presentation about the Sun that I’ve given numerous times – I’m modifying it to present remotely to my wife’s middle-school science students, and creating a worksheet based on my presentation. Here’s me giving my Sun presentation to the Warren Astronomical Society before the total solar eclipse of 2017: I’ve also suggested to my wife that she show the following videos to her science students: Mars continues to pull away from Saturn and Jupiter in the southeastern predawn sky; the Moon joins the early morning planets from May 12-15th. Mercury appears low on the northwestern horizon at sunset this week. Venus appears a bit lower each evening on the northwestern horizon after sunset.  Comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) will be north of Venus and the star Capella, but may require binoculars or a telescope to see.   The Moon … Continue reading →

Final Sabbatical Journal: What World Am I Entering?

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I will never forget my first impression of the Sonoran desert, “I’ve never experienced anything like this!” Br. Guy, in his usual quick witted fashion retorted, “No, you haven’t experienced anything like this because there is no other place in the world like this.” Many times I have spoken of entering “a new world” when I travel to a foreign land for the first time. When it came to the desert of Arizona, this “new world” sentiment took on a new depth of meaning – And I loved it! My sabbatical has been rich with “new world” experiences. The program offered by the Redemptorists is in desert spirituality in the contemplative tradition. With my head, I re-entered the world of the Desert Fathers with the guidance of Thomas Merton – A world I know rather well. In my my heart, however, I truly entered a new world of trying to live my faith less in my head and more at … Continue reading →

Skyward by David Levy: May 2020

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The Magic Lyrids Plenty of telescopes grace my observatory, but I still enjoy watching shooting stars, or meteors, more than anything else. This year, after a break of several months, the Earth passed through the Lyrid meteor stream on the night of April 21. The meteor shower takes place when the Earth encounters dust from Comet Thatcher, a comet that last appeared in 1861. I captured five meteors with my camera, of which one accompanies this article. As I relaxed outdoors during this time, the memories began to flood back. My first experience with the Lyrids was on April 22, 1963. I was at the time a patient at the Jewish National Home for Asthmatic Children in Denver. I wrote it up this way in my diary: “I had a regular day today, until tonight. I went out and saw a fireball (a very bright meteor.)  Then a big, fat, hunk of cloud came over. I saw no more meteors.” The next night … Continue reading →

The Great Debate of 1920

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The beginning of the 20th century saw several occurrences that had a profound effect on the field of astronomy: worldwide construction of large and complex telescopes designed specifically for photographic imaging; the on-going Carte du Ciel international astronomical project, with the Vatican Observatory contributing thousands of photographic plates; Albert Einstein and his theories of special relativity, published in 1905, and general relativity in 1915 – forever changing the way we look at the cosmos; women acting as human “computers” who took part in several great astronomical discoveries, many only recently receiving the credit they are due. Exactly a hundred years ago, in the 1920s, the size of the universe was a major source of debate among astronomers. At the time, it was unknown if there was only one galaxy, and if the “spiral nebulae” astronomers had cataloged resided within that galaxy, or if they were many galaxies in their own right – much farther away. The debate brought into focus … Continue reading →

Specola Guestbook: November 14, 1913 – William Maxwell

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This entry is part 41 of 43 in the series Specola Guestbook

Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory.  A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints. Today’s guestbook entry is from November 14, 1913, when William J. Maxwell made a visit. Next to his name, William John Maxwell (1859-1934) wrote, “Captain U.S. Navy, comdg [commanding] U.S.S. Florida, c/o Navy Department, Washington D.C.”  He was a career naval officer. He was an inaugural member of the General Board of the U.S. Navy. He captained two vessels: the battleships USS Mississippi (from 1911-1912) and USS Florida (1913). From 1914 until 1916, he served as the 18th Naval Governor of Guam. During his term, he established the Bank of Guam and the Guam Insular Patrol Force.   He petitioned Franklin D. Roosevelt to grant U.S. citizenship status for Guam islanders, which was rejected. (Citizenship for Guamanians was finally granted in 1950.)     … Continue reading →

Astronomy in Art & Architecture: R. A. Rosenfeld’s Astronomical History Christmas Cards

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Greetings, Readers of Sacred Space Astronomy!  Check out the astronomical art below.  These are cards made by Randall A. Rosenfeld, who is the archivist for the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.  I’ve been fortunate enough to be on Randall’s Christmas mailing list for some years now, and have built up this small collection of original astronomical artwork as a result.  He graciously gave the OK for me to share them with Sacred Space Astronomy readers.  These scans do not look nearly as good as the originals, because the originals feature cool stuff like stars colored with metallic ink.  A scan just will not capture that sort of thing. Many of these illustrations are based on material found in historical books on astronomy.  I have included links to the originals in many cases.  Click on those links if you have time.  I think that you will be glad that you did. The card above is the most recent one Randall has … Continue reading →

From the V.O. Faith and Science Pages: Religious Scientists

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Today’s featured entry from the Vatican Observatory Faith and Science pages: “Religious Scientists” (click here for it) The V.O. Faith and Science Pages have a growing list of entries on religious scientists. This section features some of the religious scientists who appear in different entries on the Faith and Science pages. Some of these scientists are well-known, others less so. Many are Catholic, many are not. Most are Christian, but some are not…. [click here to continue]. The Faith and Science pages (F&S) are a unique resource on the web.  The material in F&S is stuff that you will find nowhere else (or at least not without a lot of digging).  Featured areas on F&S include “History of Church and Science”; “Church and Science Today”; “Science and Scripture”; “Science, Religion & Society”; “Life in the Universe”; “Cosmology”; and more.  The level of the F&S material ranges from being accessible to all audiences, with even some material oriented toward young readers, … Continue reading →

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Updated Marvellous Mars memories For several years now I have been visiting Castletown House doing workshops for families. Mams, dads, granny’s, grandad’s and kids all working together. Everyone  learning together about planets and space missions. This year however COVID 19 has prevented that happening so far. So here is one from May 2018, my Marvellous Mars drawing workshop. Castletown House is a Georgian palace set in a magnificent landscape in Co Kildare. The building is full of grace and elegance of times long past. That splendour coupled with all that is required of a building for public events makes Castletown House a special place. It was a pleasure to be invited to do a workshop in this excellent venue. Particularly timely as it was on the eve of the launch of NASA’s InSight mission. The evening was set up for my Marvellous Mars drawing workshop. The audience were families, mams, dads and children, a perfect combination. It was beautiful, with late … Continue reading →

ⓜ Knowing what to dream (a Prize-Giving Day speech)

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This entry is part 3 of 21 in the series And Then I Wrote

And then I wrote… This month is when schools traditionally gather for commencement, and it’s been my honor to have been asked to give a number of commencement addresses; so I figured I would share them here. But this one is a bit different, since it was actually an address to the students of St. Aloysius, the Jesuit High School in Glasgow, Scotland, for their annual Prize Giving Day (which, I believe, was in September not May. The year was 2010, in any event.) As an American, my only experience with the peculiar tradition of giving prizes to high school students was what I had read in P. G. Wodehouse, and it usually involved much quantities of gin before the award. I skipped that part, though as you will see intoxication did play a significant role in what I told them… I am honored to be among you this afternoon, to add my congratulations to those of your faculty. I … Continue reading →