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Tag Archives: FAW

Faith and Astronomy Workshop Related Content

In the Sky This Week – January 22, 2019

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on January 22, 2019 by Bob TrembleyJanuary 22, 2019
This entry is part 80 of 179 in the series In the Sky This Week

Back in Michigan and recovered from my trip to Tucson to help with Vatican Observatory Foundation’s 2019 Faith and Astronomy Workshop (#FAWVOF), only to be thrust into face-biting arctic-like conditions for the total lunar eclipse on Jan. 20th. The shape of the weeks-long conjunction of Jupiter, Venus and the star Antares in the southeastern predawn changes drastically this week, as Venus moves away from Jupiter and Antares. Venus appears to move away from Jupiter, and Saturn appears a little higher each morning. Venus was simply brilliant all week at the FAW! You may note how it’s getting just a little brighter each morning at 7:00 AM; this fact is not missed by my parrots – who scream for attention at the first hint of morning’s light. A waning gibbous Moon appears near the star Regulus in the predawn sky on Jan. 22nd and 23rd. An almost third quarter moon appears near the star Spica high in the southwestern predawn sky on Jan. 26th. … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Outreach | Tagged Conjunction, FAW, FAW2019, Impact, Jupiter, Just Look Up, Moon, Powers of Ten, Sun, Sunspot, Venus | Leave a reply

ⓜ This week at the Specola (ⓜ = members only!)

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on January 12, 2019 by Br. Guy ConsolmagnoJanuary 17, 2019
This entry is part 33 of 63 in the series Diary

We’ve been wondering how to get more Sacred Space members, and more members logging in… and one suggestion was to have “subscribers-only” posts available. But what to put in those posts? Over the next couple of months we’ll try out various kinds of content, to see which ones are most popular with our members. One genre which I will have here are “Diary” posts – “inside baseball” accounts of what’s happening at the Specola. This is my first attempt at such a post. In order to read the rest of this post, you have to be a paid-up member of Sacred Space, and logged in as such!

Continue reading →
Posted in Diary | Tagged FAW, Gold Mass | 1 Reply

A letter from a Faith and Astronomy Workshop alumnus

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on June 16, 2018 by Br. Guy ConsolmagnoJune 16, 2018

Dear Br. Guy: Fr. Timothy Sauppé here. I was in the 2015 inaugural seminar class at which you challenged us to take back to our parishes what we learned that week.  Well, as you know, since then I have been holding Star Parties at our local county park and giving talks on the effects of light pollution.   Most recently, I have had a commemorative bench installed and tomorrow we will honor a former parishioner who controlled 15 of the 70 earth and space based telescopes on August 17, 2017 and helped with the detection of the cosmic event from 130 million years ago that become GW170817.  He name is Dr. Jeff Cooke and he will be honored by our city and parish at 11 AM.  Here is a layout of the bench’s back which we filled with scientific information and pictures.   Pope Leo XIII would be proud.   God Bless, Fr. Sauppé This is a good place to … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Outreach | Tagged Faith and Astronomy, FAW, Ligo | Leave a reply

Copernicus and the “High Seas” (iii)

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on December 7, 2016 by Christopher M. GraneyJanuary 22, 2019

My posts from last week and the previous week were both about Copernicus and how he rejected the Two Spheres Theory (TST) regarding the shape of our world—that body we now call Planet Earth.  As discussed in those posts, the TST supposed that the world was composed of two spheres of material: an earthy sphere and a water sphere, with the earthy sphere bulging out from the watery sphere, like in the figure at right. As discussed last week, some people thought that the sphere of waters had been displaced away from the sphere of earthy stuff, with the result being that the oceans were higher than the lands, and this explained springs.  The thing that kept the waters from flowing back over the earth was the action of God. It’s not that seas being higher than the land, or needing to be held back, was a peculiarly Judeo-Christian idea.  According to David Wootton in his 2015 book The Invention … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion, Science | Tagged FAW, FAW2019 | 1 Reply

Copernicus and the “High Seas” (ii)

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on November 30, 2016 by Christopher M. GraneyJanuary 22, 2019

Last week’s blog post was about Copernicus and how he rejected the Two Spheres Theory (TST) regarding the shape of our world—that body we now call Planet Earth.  As discussed in that post, the TST supposed that the world was composed of two spheres of material: an earthy sphere and a water sphere, with the earthy sphere bulging out from the watery sphere as shown at right. There were a variety of ways by which this was explained.  Copernicus cites one in On the Revolutions—the idea that the earthy sphere has cavities within it, and thus apparently is buoyed by the water sphere.  David Wootton devotes a chapter to the Two Spheres Theory in his 2015 book The Invention of Science,* and notes other ways of explaining the TST.  One of these, he says, was that …the waters have been displaced from their original position, and their sphere now has a centre other than the centre of the universe.  This … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, History, Religion, Science | Tagged FAW, FAW2019 | 1 Reply

Copernicus and the “High Seas” (i)

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on November 23, 2016 by Christopher M. GraneyJanuary 22, 2019

Copernicus’s 1543 book On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres is known for its proposition that our world is a planet circling the sun, but it also contains a discussion on the shape of our world, and even a mention of America.  There a story behind this, a story that contains within it a very strange incidence of the intersection of science and religion, one you may have never heard of.  This story will be the basis for the next few blog posts. Within Book 1 of On the Revolutions Copernicus includes two chapters on the shape of our world.  Chapter 2 of Book 1 he entitles “The Earth Too Is Spherical.”  He writes, The earth also is spherical, since it presses upon its center from every direction. Yet it is not immediately recognized as a perfect sphere on account of the great height of the mountains and depth of the valleys…. For a traveler going from any place toward the … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, History, Religion, Science | Tagged FAW, FAW2019 | 2 Replies

2016 FAW News stories

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on January 27, 2016 by Br. Guy ConsolmagnoJanuary 28, 2016

One of our guests at this year’s Faith and Astronomy workshop was Dennis Sadowski, a reporter for the Catholic News Service. He’s published his first two articles about it on the CatholicPhilly.com website: Priests find comfort that in studying… Heavenly Mysteries: Questions of faith, science intersect… If you know about other recent news articles about the FAW, link to them in the comments! (edited to fix the link to the first story)

Continue reading →
Posted in Outreach, Religion | Tagged FAW, Press stories | Leave a reply

Faith & Astronomy Workshop: Applications Open!

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on September 1, 2015 by Br. Guy ConsolmagnoSeptember 1, 2015

  The annual Faith and Astronomy Workshop will be held next January 11 – 15, 2016, and applications are now open. What’s the FAW? Well… read on… What can modern astronomy tell us about creation – and its Creator? This four-day workshop, sponsored by the Vatican Observatory Foundation, is designed to bring those working in Catholic parishes an up-to-date overview of the universe: from the Big Bang, to the search for life in the universe, to our exploration of the planets… as seen through the eyes of the Jesuit priests and brothers who work at the Vatican’s own astronomical observatory. Our next workshop will be held the week of January 11-15, 2016, at the Redemptorist Renewal Center outside of Tucson, Arizona. Participants should plan to arrive on the afternoon of Monday, January 11; the work of the workshop begins that evening. Days and evenings are scheduled through Thursday. The workshop will end with Mass and breakfast on Friday morning, January 15. … Continue reading →

Posted in Announcement, Astronomy, Education, Outreach, Religion | Tagged FAW, Outreach, Workshop | 1 Reply

Talking Faith and Science, Part II (FAW): What works?

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on March 5, 2015 by Br. Guy ConsolmagnoMarch 18, 2015

As you recall, in January we held the first of what we hope to be an annual series of Faith and Astronomy Workshops. The 25 participants, educators, priests, and deacons from parishes from across the US and Mexico, gathered to learn a little astronomy from the inside while chatting about how we can combine astronomy into our ministries. In the first of these posts, I summarized how the participants described their experiences dealing with science and religion in their home parishes. In this post, I want to talk about their reflections on strategies that work… and don’t work. By the way, the participants all get a one-year membership to The Catholic Astronomer. I encourage them – and everyone else – to comment on this posting. Let’s keep the conversation going!   The second day, we addressed the question: What are basic strategies that have worked (or not worked)? The assumption is this: you are a scientifically literate member of a parish. How do you help others in your parish appreciate … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Outreach, Religion | Tagged Community life, FAW, Outreach | Leave a reply
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Recent Posts

“Cosmos: Possible Worlds”, 10-13: Goodbye to a Losing Season

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on January 16, 2021 by Christopher M. GraneyJanuary 15, 2021

When your favorite team is not so good, sometimes the end of the season can come as a relief.  That’s doubly true when the last couple games of the season go especially badly.  This Cosmos fan finds himself happy to see this season come to an end.  There is always … Continue reading…

Posted in Astronomy, Popular Culture, Science | Tagged cosmos-possible-worlds | 1 Reply

JWST update – Hexagons in Space

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on January 15, 2021 by Deirdre KelleghanJanuary 15, 2021

My small group at Space Camp in Louisburgh. Proud of their new James Webb replica mirror and knowledge !! What an exciting week regarding the JWST announcment that the launch date is set for October 31st 2021 !!! Am shareing my previous blog about a workshop I did back in … Continue reading…

Posted in Astronomy, Education, Science, Space Exploration | Tagged ESA, Hexagons, James Webb Space Telescope, JWST, Launch, NASA, Space | 2 Replies

ⓜ Curiosity and the Exploration of Mars, I

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on January 14, 2021 by Br. Guy ConsolmagnoJanuary 14, 2021
This entry is part 1 of 54 in the series And Then I Wrote

And then I wrote… On January 12, 2021, the NASA Mars rover Curiosity marked 3000 Martian days on the surface of Mars. In 2012 I was invited to write an article about the exploration of Mars; “Curiosity e l’esplorazione di Marte” appeared in the Jesuit journal La Civiltà Cattolica on November 17,2012. … Continue reading…

Posted in And Then I Wrote, Planet, Space Exploration | Tagged Curiosity, Mars, NASA Solar System Exploration | Leave a reply

A Platonic journey

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on January 13, 2021 by Richard HillJanuary 13, 2021
This entry is part 38 of 38 in the series Lunarcy

I always look forward to the appearance of the 104km diameter crater Plato and surrounding environs as they emerge from the lunar night. There is so much to see there I find imaging irresistible. Usually I don’t like to do this wide a field but there’s much to enjoy. Plato’s … Continue reading…

Posted in Astronomy, Moon, Uncategorized | Tagged Craters, mare, Moon, mountains | Leave a reply

In the Sky This Week – January 12, 2021

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on January 12, 2021 by Bob TrembleyJanuary 14, 2021
This entry is part 179 of 179 in the series In the Sky This Week

Venus appears very low above the southeastern horizon before sunrise. Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury continue to form a triple conjunction in the southwestern sky at dusk – Saturn may be a bit difficult to see; Mercury appears slightly higher above the horizon each evening. Mercury appears in the southwestern sky … Continue reading…

Posted in Astronomy, Outreach | Tagged #CountdowntoMars, Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Moon, NGC 6946, Orion, Saturn, Sun, Ursa Major, Venus | 2 Replies

Specola Guestbook | June 16, 1924: Knut Lundmark and Sten Asklöf

Sacred Space Astronomy avatarPosted on January 10, 2021 by Robert MackeJanuary 4, 2021
This entry is part 76 of 76 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 June 16, 1924, when Knut Lundmark and Sten Asklöf made a visit. Next … Continue reading…

Posted in Astronomy, History, Uncategorized | Tagged Andromeda, Asklof, galaxies, Lundmark, Specola Guestbook, Uppsala, Vatican Observatory | Leave a reply
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Recent Comments

  • Stan Sienkiewicz January 16, 2021 at 9:17 am on “Cosmos: Possible Worlds”, 10-13: Goodbye to a Losing SeasonIt is a shame that the producers of the show are not amazed by the real world and need to enhance reality with special effects. I feel you are discussing a topic that is coming up quite often about our culture: the lack of astonishment. I recently had taken a...
  • Fernando Comeron January 15, 2021 at 5:22 am on JWST update – Hexagons in SpaceIncidentally, you can see that we at the European Southern Observatory (ESO, of which Ireland is a member too) did something that bears some resemblance several years ago. We invited visitors to our headquarters near Munich on the open doors day in 2011 to put hexagons together to reproduce a...
  • Fernando Comeron January 15, 2021 at 5:07 am on JWST update – Hexagons in SpaceNice article, Deirdre -and actually hexagons in space are very common, although very tiny. Carbon hexagonal cycles are at the basis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a class of molecules that compose the cold interstellar medium. So hexagons are pretty much everywhere in the Universe!
  • Bob Trembley January 14, 2021 at 2:01 am on In the Sky This Week – January 12, 2021Thanks for keeping me honest! :) I corrected it to say "Mercury appears slightly higher above the horizon each evening." When you advance days in Stellarium at dusk, you see Jupiter and Saturn get lower each day, and Mercury getting higher. Venus gets a bit lower each morning in the...
  • Joseph O'Donnell January 12, 2021 at 10:03 am on In the Sky This Week – January 12, 2021"Mercury appears slightly higher above the horizon each morning" I believe you mean Venus or am I missing something?
  • Christopher M. Graney January 4, 2021 at 10:50 am on Carols versus Matthew on the Star of WonderVery interesting -- I had never read the "Gospel of James", or "Protoevangelium of James", until now. Below is its whole section about the star, for those not familiar with it. Remarkably, the same problem is found in it. It follows Matthew in talking about the magi. No one knows...
  • Christopher M. Graney January 4, 2021 at 10:43 am on Carols versus Matthew on the Star of WonderI should have been more clear. When I said "This sounds just like the Great Conjunction of 2020", I meant it sounds like that *kind* of thing -- something no one who was not an astronomer would have noticed it just by chance.
  • Alfred Kracher January 2, 2021 at 10:47 am on Carols versus Matthew on the Star of WonderEmbellishments of Matthew’s simple “star” into a spectacular miracle are all but irrresistible. Already in the apocryphal 2nd century Gospel of James it shines with an “incredible brilliance amidst the constellations and making them seem dim.” And over the centuries artists of all kinds have further expanded on these exaggerations,...
  • Fr. Timothy Sauppé January 2, 2021 at 5:30 am on Carols versus Matthew on the Star of WonderI thought the biggest objection to the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction being the “Star of Bethlehem” was the 800 year cycle of its occurrence viz. the timing is off. Also, I am reminded of a comment of an amateur astronomer when he went to Chile, up in the Andes. He said there...
  • Stan Sienkiewicz December 26, 2020 at 1:07 pm on The Sun Illuminates Fort AncientYes, while not quite following the astronomy it still is fascinating to see what these early N American people did to their environment. As to why they did it and your article disagreeing with the solstice explanation reminded me of the book, Motel of the Mysteries. It is a funny...
  • Joel Hopko December 24, 2020 at 1:09 pm on Bah! Humbug. Science.And a very Merry Christmas to you Professor. May your spirit and inquiring mind continue to brighten our New Year! Joel Hopko
  • Fr. Timothy Sauppé December 21, 2020 at 6:04 pm on Was Jesus Born on December 25? The Fight Between Inculturation and Radical Certitude.Just saw this Socrates In The City from 2005 with Eric Metaxas interviewing Colin Nicholl. His book and thesis is that the Star of Bethlehem was one big comet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mT-8O8S_Fw&t=1s
  • Bob Prokop December 21, 2020 at 12:08 pm on Was Jesus Born on December 25? The Fight Between Inculturation and Radical Certitude.It's interesting that Tolkien chose March 25th as the date the One Ring was cast into the fires of Mount Doom (see the appendixes to The Return of the King for the date). It can't be a coincidence that the destruction of evil in Middle Earth coincides with the Annunciation...
  • Fr. Timothy Sauppé December 21, 2020 at 10:35 am on Was Jesus Born on December 25? The Fight Between Inculturation and Radical Certitude.Here is an interesting take by Liberato De Caro, Ph.D., of the Institute of Crystallography of the National Research Council in Bari, Italy, who led the research, proposes that the date of Jesus’ birth. He posits 1 BC for Jesus’ Birth. For your consideration. https://www.ncregister.com/blog/liberato-de-caro-nativity?utm_campaign=NCR%202019&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=102396683&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9xKkcgGuiy7rFyWiX8fgbgA63Wabi_9C-VcU6QmESl4QYoKUDYHXm6DrY_jGwbVptu0roDhgBz363uEIX8dd6P7oOaBQ&utm_content=102396683&utm_source=hs_email
  • Bob Prokop December 18, 2020 at 7:52 am on Pursuing the ConjunctionLooks like we're going to be clouded out here in Maryland. But I did get a good look at the two planets last night (Thursday). They were already practically on top of each other! So it has not been a total loss. By the way, your December 14th drawing is...
  • Fr. James Kurzynski December 14, 2020 at 6:42 am on Follow the Money, the Science, or the Theology? A Second Reflection on the Forthcoming Artemis Moon Mission.Thanks Ed! I so appreciate your thoughts! As a fellow "Star Trek" fan, I can appreciate you insight! :)
  • Fr. James Kurzynski December 14, 2020 at 6:38 am on Follow the Money, the Science, or the Theology? A Second Reflection on the Forthcoming Artemis Moon Mission.Absolutely! Send me a message through the "Contact US" tab!
  • Br. Guy Consolmagno December 12, 2020 at 10:09 am on ⓜ Cosmology and ExpertiseOh, yes!
  • Richard Gabrielson December 10, 2020 at 9:19 pm on ⓜ Cosmology and ExpertiseBr. Guy -- be SO GLAD those were private messages instead of questions from the audience at a big conference!
  • Ed Yepez December 10, 2020 at 4:31 pm on Follow the Money, the Science, or the Theology? A Second Reflection on the Forthcoming Artemis Moon Mission.I think I was too young to appreciate "Earth Rise", when I first saw it. Probably only after a few years of education, did I start to appreciate what the effort was to take that picture, and then the fragile beauty of the Earth (in contrast with the "Magnificent Desolation")...

Top Posts

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    “Cosmos: Possible Worlds”, 10-13: Goodbye to a Losing Season
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    Biblical Signs in the Sky? September 23, 2017
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    Looking for Wormwood
  • JWST update - Hexagons in Space
    JWST update - Hexagons in Space
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    ⓜ Curiosity and the Exploration of Mars, I
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    In the Sky This Week – January 14, 2020
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  • Religious Scientists: Sr. Mary Kenneth Keller B.V.M. (1913-1985) - Computer Science
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