The Vatican Observatory is perhaps the most visible evidence of the Church’s commitment to science. The articles here describe a bit of the history and purpose of the Observatory, and its context both in the wider world of science and the wider world of the Church.
2018 Vatican Observatory Summer School
- Video
- 7.5 minutes
- Level: all audiences
This video from the Vatican Observatory Foundation’s YouTube channel features Vatican Observatory Director Br. Guy Consolmagno, Professor and Director of the Astrophysics Doctorate at Universidad Andrés Bello, Dante Minniti, and different student participants in the 2018 Vatican Observatory Summer School (VOSS), discussing the VOSS (“the best summer school in the world”).
30 Years of Papal Blessing for VATT
Article- 200 Words
- Level: all audiences
A post by Fr. Paul Gabor on the Catholic Astronomer website, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Pope’s approval to build the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope
A Galactic Universe
- Article
- 6 pages, 2000 words
- Level: high school and above
This chapter by Fr. José Gabriel Funes, S. J., Director of the Vatican Observatory from 2006 to 2015, from the book The Heavens Proclaim; Astronomy and the Vatican, discusses topics including: A Galactic History; What Is a Galaxy Made Of?; Galaxy Formation; and Galaxy Trans-Formation.
A History of the Vatican Observatory
- Article (PDF)
- 35 pages
- Level: all audiences
This is chapter from the book The Heavens Proclaim: Astronomy and the Vatican. This chapter was written by Fr. Sabino Maffeo, a physicist with the Vatican Observatory since 1985, and is a condensed version of his book In the Service of Nine Popes.
Click here to download the chapter.
History of the Vatican Observatory
About The Universe
Fr. Georges Lemaître (1894-1966, with Robert A. Millikan and Albert Einstein), Belgian priest and astrophysicist, was one of the founders of what came to be known as the “Big Bang” theory.
- Book chapter
- 2500 words
- Level: all audiences
This chapter from the book The Heavens Proclaim; Astronomy and the Vatican was written by Fr. Christopher Corbally, S.J. and Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J., both astronomers with the Vatican Observatory. It discusses a number of questions: How can we know when the universe began? When did the first stars appear? How do we know the overall shape of the universe? Is it true that the universe is expanding faster now than it did when it was first formed, soon after the “Big Bang”? Is the universe infinite, or does it have a boundary? Can one think of “space” outside the universe? How many galaxies are there in the universe? Approximately how many stars are there in the largest galaxy that we know of? And how many stars are there in the smallest galaxy? Is it possible to guess from this how many stars are there in the universe? What are the fundamental elements of matter and energy that the universe is made of? And even, how can one calculate the number of piano tuners in a large city?
[Click here to download PDF]
Cosmology-QA
Across the Universe: A Thousand Stars are Born
Article (blog post)- 1200 words
- Level: all audiences
A post by Vatican Observatory astronomer Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J., on The Catholic Astronomer blog. Br. Consolgmagno discusses two conferences on star formation that were hosted by the Vatican Observatory: one in 1957, the other in 2013. The 1957 conference was attended by luminaries such as Fr. George Lemaitre and Fred Hoyle, who respectively invented, and named, the Big Bang; Jan Oort, for whom the cometary Oort cloud is named; and Martin Schwarzschild, of black hole “Schwartzchild radius” fame. The 2013 conference was, however, a much more diverse gathering.
Click here to read the full article on The Catholic Astronomer – the blog of the Vatican Observatory Foundation.
Across the Universe: Happy Birthday to Us
Article (blog post)- 600 words
- Level: all audiences
Vatican Observatory Director Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J. writes on The Catholic Astronomer blog about the 125th birthday of the Vatican Observatory, and the history that lead to its foundation by Pope Leo XIII. Reflecting on that history, Br. Consolmagno writes:
But our cosmological ideas moved from Copernicus’ fixed sun, through Kepler’s elliptical orbits, to Kant’s idea of galaxies as island universes and Herschel’s measurement of our place in the Milky Way. Our modern speculations about multiple universes carry as much a tinge of science fiction as of natural philosophy. One lesson I hope we’ve learned is that no modern cosmology is a good basis for theological doctrine, simply because no matter how well founded our astronomy is we can expect it will eventually go out of date.
Across the Universe: View from afar
Article (blog post)- 750 words
- Level: all audiences
Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J., an astronomer with the Vatican Observatory, writes in a post on The Catholic Astronomer blog about using the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope or VATT to study small bodies in the outer solar system:.
By how often they brighten and dim, we measure how fast these bodies spin; by how much their brightness changes during these cycles, we get a measure of their irregular shapes. It is not particularly thrilling work. We point the telescope at a given object; take a three-minute exposure with our electronic camera; and then another exposure; and another; and another… These objects typically take about eight hours or more per spin; so we observe one body per night as it rises, crosses the sky, and sets in the west… checking the images for clarity, tweaking the focus, watching the skies to make sure that clouds are not moving in….
Looking for Wormwood
Article (blog post)- 1800 words
- Level: all audiences
“Is the Vatican Observatory searching for the star called Wormwood from the Book of Revelation?” This question was asked during the Q&A session that followed a talk about the V.O. given by one of the members of the Vatican Observatory Foundation’s Board of Directors, and Christopher Graney, writing for the Vatican Observatory’s Sacred Space Astronomy (The Catholic Astronomer) blog, answers it.
Click here to read this article from Sacred Space Astronomy (The Catholic Astronomer), the blog of the Vatican Observatory Foundation.
Across the Universe: Happy Birthday to Us
- Article (blog post)
- 600 words
- Level: all audiences
Vatican Observatory Director Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J. writes on The Catholic Astronomer blog about the 125th birthday of the Vatican Observatory, and the history that lead to its foundation by Pope Leo XIII. Reflecting on that history, Br. Consolmagno writes:
But our cosmological ideas moved from Copernicus’ fixed sun, through Kepler’s elliptical orbits, to Kant’s idea of galaxies as island universes and Herschel’s measurement of our place in the Milky Way. Our modern speculations about multiple universes carry as much a tinge of science fiction as of natural philosophy. One lesson I hope we’ve learned is that no modern cosmology is a good basis for theological doctrine, simply because no matter how well founded our astronomy is we can expect it will eventually go out of date.
Science and Religion Advance Together at Pontifical Academy
- Article
- 3 pages
- Level: all audiences
This 2001 article written by Charles Seife for the journal Science discusses the Pontifical Academy of Science, with a side-bar article on the Vatican Observatory. Seife writes:
Since its founding, the Pontifical Academy has numbered among its members such scientific luminaries as Alexander Fleming, Niels Bohr, Chandrasekhara Raman, and Werner Heisenberg (elected in 1955)…. Candidates are nominated and elected by the members, although technically they are appointed by sovereign act of the pontiff—who looks for more than mere scientific eminence. The institution’s charter specifies that members must possess “acknowledged moral personality.”… Once on board, members share a simple set of duties: to meet and talk. Members say they choose their own speakers and topics and debate issues freely. “The Catholic Church is supporting this academy,” says Crodowaldo Pavan, a geneticist at the University of Sao Paulo and a member of the academy. “They pay for this meeting and don’t say what we should say—they give us total freedom.”… The academy’s November session drew an eclectic mix of people: physicists, biologists, philosophers, theologians, and clerics. Dominican robes and Jesuit collars mingled with suits that had seen more than their share of chalk dust.
Click here to access this article via JSTOR (available through many libraries).
Click here to access this article via Science.
An Interview with Reverend George V. Coyne, S.J.
- Article
- 8 pages
- Level: all audiences
This 2018 interview with Fr. George V. Coyne, S. J., Director of the Vatican Observatory from 1978 through 2006, was published as part of John Carroll University’s “Re-engaging Science in Seminary Formation” project. From the introduction to this interview:
At every turn during our science in seminaries project, we found ourselves inspired and encouraged by the life and work of Reverend George V. Coyne, S.J., an astrophysicist and former director of the Vatican Observatory for almost 30 years (1978–2006). Father Coyne was not only on the front lines promoting the need for dialogue between scientific and theological communities, but he also unrelentingly advanced the cause of scientific literacy as a critical component of seminary formation. We contacted Father Coyne at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, where he is McDevitt Chair of Religious Philosophy and McDevitt Chair in Physics. He graciously agreed to be interviewed by Reverend John Kartje, Rector-President of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary near Chicago — who also, fittingly, is an astrophysicist.
Click here to download the article in PDF format.
Click here to view the article as a flipbook.
The Hows of Science
Article (blog post)- 700 words
- Level: all audiences
In this post on The Catholic Astronomer blog, Vatican Observatory astronomer Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J., discusses new scientists joining the Vatican Observatory:
[A] big topic for the group was welcoming seven young astronomers to our group. They come from many countries – three from the US, plus an Italian, a Czech, a Congolese, and an Indian. They’ve studied a variety of scientific topics, from theorizing on subatomic strings to observing meteor showers, at traditional PhD programs in universities around the world. And their immediate challenge now is trying to fit the style of doing science they learned in those places to the unique circumstances of being an astronomer at the Vatican.
Progress on Mount Graham
Article 150 words Level: all audiences Below is the text of a “News Notes” article from Sky & Telescope Magazine, March 1994, announcing the dedication of the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, or VATT: Click here to access this article via Ebscohost (available in many libraries). Click here to access this article via Archive.org. Progress on Mount Graham Two pacesetting telescopes were dedicated last September 18th at the University of Arizona’s Mount Graham International Observatory. One is the Submillimeter Telescope (SMT), a cooperative project with Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy; the other is the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT). Both are presently undergoing final alignment and calibration and will begin science programs this year. After years of contentious debate and judicial wrangling, the opening of these instruments is welcome news for university astronomers who had to overcome objections from such diverse groups as the Sierra Club, Native Americans, and government agencies. Mount Graham had been selected in the early … Continue reading →
Vatican space explorations
Article 1600 words Level: all audiences A general overview of questions pertaining to space and the Vatican, from Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly, 2009. Vatican space explorations Study of astronomy reminds us of the beauty of the universe — and its Creator OSV Newsweekly Why does the starlit sky hold such a profound fascination for us? Perhaps because it is there that we encounter, commingled, the mystery of light and darkness — two primal experiences connected with the beginning and end of human life. Perhaps it comes from seeing the order, both overt and occult, in the movements of the celestial spheres, with which we sense ourselves secretly involved. Perhaps it is because we feel so small before the starry universe: like a straw tossed into the ‘great sea of being,’ we feel ourselves confronted with destiny…” So begins Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo in his introduction to the new book “The Heavens Proclaim: Astronomy and the Vatican” (Our Sunday Visitor, $39.95), which celebrates the … Continue reading →
The Vatican Observatory (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1901)
Article (encyclopedia entry)- 2 pages
- Level: all audiences
The entry for the Vatican Observatory in the 1912 Catholic Encyclopedia. The entry was written by J. G. Hagen, S. J., director of the Observatory at that time. From the article:
The Vatican Observatory now bears the official title, “Specola Astronomica Vaticana”. To understand its history it is necessary to remark that the designations osservatorio or specola are not restricted to astronomy, but may mean any elevated locality from which aerial phenomena are observed. From this point of view the history of the Specola Vaticana has passed through four successive stages….
Click here to access this article via Google Books.
Adventures of a Vatican Astronomer – Br. Guy Consolmagno SJ
- Video
- One hour
- Level: all audiences
Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J., an astronomer at the Vatican Observatory, gave this talk at the SETI Institute on February 22, 2013
No scientist is a Spock-like android; a scientist’s work is as intuitive, and just as full of human foibles, as a painting, a symphony, or a prayer. But most of us don’t have the opportunity (or training) to reflect on the human dimensions of our work. Br. Guy Consolmagno does; he is both a Jesuit brother and a planetary scientist at the Vatican Observatory, splitting his time between the meteorite collection in Rome (which he curates) and the Vatican telescope in Arizona. Thanks to his Vatican connections, his work has sent him around the world several times to dozens of countries and every continent (including a meteorite hunting expedition to Antarctica). In this talk he will share some of those adventures, and reflect on the larger meaning of our common experience as scientists… not only what we do, but why we do it.
Dark Matter, Johannes Kepler, and What We Know
- Video
- 11 minutes
- Level: all audiences
In this video from the Vatican Observatory Foundation Dr. Brenda Frye (University of Arizona) talks with Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J. (Director of the Vatican Observatory) about Dark Matter. Dr. Frye connects the idea of Dark Matter all the way back to Johannes Kepler’s theory of orbits in the solar system. Questions arise: do we actually know less now than we once did, and how fast will we progress in our knowledge of the universe?
Catholicism and Science in the Modern Era: A New Rapprochement
- Video
- 1.5 hours
- Level: all audiences
Fr. David Brown, S.J, an astronomer with the Vatican Observatory, gives a lecture at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, April 6, 2016.
Information about the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope
- Video
- 7 minutes
- Level: all audiences
Fr. Paul Gabor, S. J., an astronomer with the Vatican Observatory, gives a brief introduction to the Vatican’s telescope in Arizona, including a brief history of the Vatican and astronomy, and the Vatican Observatory’s mission for the Church.
Audra Baleisis: Vatican Observatory Summer School or VOSS
- Video
- 24 minutes
- Level: all audiences
This video from the Vatican Observatory Foundation’s YouTube channel features Audra Baleisis, a former student from the Vatican Observatory Summer School (VOSS), discussing her experiences at the Summer School and how those experiences related to aspects of her career in astronomy education. From the Vatican Observatory Foundation:
Dr. Audra Baleisis, Instructional Consultant at the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching Engineering at the University of Michigan, spoke at the 2017 Annual Seminar held in Ann Arbor. Audra is also an alumna of one of the Vatican Observatory Summer Schools (VOSS) in Castel Gandolfo. In her talk she described the summer school and how it affected her. The schools are unique in that they are comprised of only 25 international beginning graduate students in astrophysics – any two from any one country. Hear how Audra describes her experience and how it affected her.
The Mystery That Keeps Neil deGrasse Tyson Up At Night
- Video
- 9 minutes
- Level: all audiences
This January 2018 clip from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert features Colbert and Tyson discussing a number of things, among which is a diversion into Pope Gregory XIII and the Gregorian calendar, Jesuit astronomers, the Vatican Observatory, and Fr. Georges Lemaître (who first developed the Big Bang theory), and “Team RC” (RC being “Roman Catholic”).
2018 Vatican Observatory Summer School
- Video
- 7.5 minutes
- Level: all audiences
This video from the Vatican Observatory Foundation’s YouTube channel features Vatican Observatory Director Br. Guy Consolmagno, Professor and Director of the Astrophysics Doctorate at Universidad Andrés Bello, Dante Minniti, and different student participants in the 2018 Vatican Observatory Summer School (VOSS), discussing the VOSS (“the best summer school in the world”).
The Vatican Observatory
- Video
- 5 minutes
- Level: all audiences
A short video from the Vatican Observatory Foundation about the history and work of the Vatican Observatory, featuring interviews with members of the Observatory and views of their telescopes in Arizona and Rome.
On Being with Krista Tippett: Asteroids, Stars, and the Love of God
- Audio
- One hour
- Level: all audiences
An interview with two Vatican Observatory astronomers from the radio show On Being with Krista Tippett: “Guy Consolmagno and George Coyne—Asteroids, Stars, and the Love of God”.
More than 30 objects on the moon are named after the Jesuits who mapped it. A Jesuit was one of the founders of modern astrophysics. And four Jesuits in history, including Ignatius of Loyola, have had asteroids named after them – Brother Guy Consolmagno and Father George Coyne being the two living men with this distinction. In a conversation filled with friendship and laughter, and in honor of the visit of Pope Francis to the U.S., we experience the spacious way they think about science, the universe, and the love of God.
Click here for the audio and a transcript of the interview from “On Being”.
IHMC STEM Talk, Conversation with Br Consolmagno
Audio- One hour
- Level: all audiences
STEM Talk is podcast produced by the IHMC (a not-for-profit research institute of the Florida University System) that features “Conversations with some of the most interesting people in the world of science and technology”. In this episode, co-host Tom Jones interviews Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J., Director of the Vatican Observatory, about his life-long journey to understand the universe and the role of faith in that pursuit. Jones is a former NASA astronaut who shares Br. Guy’s love of astronomy and who also studies under the same thesis advisor at MIT, John Lewis.
Click here to access the audio and a summary of the topics discussed from IHMC.
A Galactic Universe
- Article
- 6 pages, 2000 words
- Level: high school and above
This chapter by Fr. José Gabriel Funes, S. J., Director of the Vatican Observatory from 2006 to 2015, from the book The Heavens Proclaim; Astronomy and the Vatican, discusses topics including: A Galactic History; What Is a Galaxy Made Of?; Galaxy Formation; and Galaxy Trans-Formation.
About The Universe
Fr. Georges Lemaître (1894-1966, with Robert A. Millikan and Albert Einstein), Belgian priest and astrophysicist, was one of the founders of what came to be known as the “Big Bang” theory.
- Book chapter
- 2500 words
- Level: all audiences
This chapter from the book The Heavens Proclaim; Astronomy and the Vatican was written by Fr. Christopher Corbally, S.J. and Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J., both astronomers with the Vatican Observatory. It discusses a number of questions: How can we know when the universe began? When did the first stars appear? How do we know the overall shape of the universe? Is it true that the universe is expanding faster now than it did when it was first formed, soon after the “Big Bang”? Is the universe infinite, or does it have a boundary? Can one think of “space” outside the universe? How many galaxies are there in the universe? Approximately how many stars are there in the largest galaxy that we know of? And how many stars are there in the smallest galaxy? Is it possible to guess from this how many stars are there in the universe? What are the fundamental elements of matter and energy that the universe is made of? And even, how can one calculate the number of piano tuners in a large city?
[Click here to download PDF]
Cosmology-QA
An Astronomer’s View of the Christmas Sky
- Article
- 2000 words
- Level: all audiences
This 2018 article Written by Kyle Peterson and published in the Wall Street Journal is based on an interview Peterson did with Vatican Observatory Director Br. Guy Consolmagno, S.J. The article touches on the Star of Bethlehem, the history of the Vatican Observatory and the unique opportunities for science that the V.O. allows, Galileo and Newton, and God coming before science. Peterson notes a deeper problem with dragging science into religious arguments:
“[Doing that] always makes the science come first and God come at the end of your chain of reasoning,” Brother Consolmagno says. “To a scientist who’s a believer, it goes the other way around. I’ve already experienced God. I’ve already had religious experiences. I’ve already had things that have made me look at the universe and say: ‘What’s going on?’ Whether they’re tragedies like the death of a loved one or miracles like the birth of a loved one, there are things that make you say ‘I’m experiencing something that’s more than physical things can explain. Where did this come from?’ Or maybe it’s just something as simple as: ‘I exist. Why do I exist? Why does anything exist? Why does existence itself exist?’”
Facing such questions, he offers a hypothesis: “Let’s assume that there’s a God that’s outside nature, who is responsible for the existence of the universe,” he says. “When I start with that axiom, does the universe makes sense? Does the universe made more sense than if I assume it’s all done by random chance? Am I able to see things I couldn’t see before? Am I able to understand things I couldn’t understand before? Is it an axiom that works?”
“And to me, yes—that’s the answer.”
Click here for a copy of this article (image/PDF format).
Click here to access this article via the Wall Street Journal.
Stars And The Milky Way
Book chapter (PDF)- 8 pages
- Level: high school and above
A chapter by Fr. Christopher Corbally, S.J., an astronomer with the Vatican Observatory, for the book The Heavens Proclaim: Astronomy and the Vatican. Fr. Corbally writes “the really interesting details contained within a [spectrum] are revealed when light from a star is focused onto a narrow slit, which from there passes through a prism, and then gets focused again onto your eye or a camera.” Topics include ‘A History of Stellar Spectra’; ‘Spectra and Brightness’; ‘Classifying Stars’; ‘Getting to Know Our Neighbors’; and ‘The Simple Picture Gives Way to Surprises’.
[Click here to download PDF]
Stars-and-the-Milky-Way
At the VATT [Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope]
- Article (PDF)
- 15 pages
- Level: all audiences
This chapter by Fr. Richard Boyle, S. J., and A. G. D. Philip of the Vatican Observatory, from the book The Heavens Proclaim: Astronomy and the Vatican, abounds with photographs of the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT) on Mt. Graham, Arizona (USA).
[Click here to download PDF]
At-the-VATT
Extrasolar Planets
Book chapter (PDF)- 11 pages
- Level: middle school and above
Fr. Giuseppe Koch, S. J., a physicist with the Vatican Observatory, writes in this chapter from the book The Heavens Proclaim: Astronomy and the Vatican that with the development of various means of research, and the continual advance in precision of our instruments, the exoplanet hunters have finally realized their dream. Topics include: What Can We Say about 51 Peg and Its Companion 51 Peg b?; What Do We Know about the Formation of Stars and Their Planetary Disks?; New Systems of Planets; How Do We Define a Planet Now?; How Do We Make Sense of Our “Collection” of Planets?; Future Developments; The Significance of the Discovery of Extrasolar Planets.
[Click here to download PDF]
Exoplanets
Meteorites: Aliens At The Vatican
The Marquis de Mauroy, who collected the meteorites that became the Vatican collection, and his wife, Marie Caroline Eugénie, who donated the collection to the Vatican at the death of her husband.
- Books chapter
- 8 pages
- Level: all audiences
In this chapter for the book The Heavens Proclaim: Astronomy and the Vatican, Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J., an astronomer with the Vatican Observatory, writes “At the Vatican Observatory, you’ll find a thousand aliens: meteorites, rocks from outer space that have fallen to the surface of our Earth.” Includes Introduction (with history of the Vatican Collection); Measuring the Meteorites; Densities; Pennies from Heaven
A formal portrait of the Martian meteorite that fell near the Egyptian town of Nakhla in 1911. (Photo credit: Alberto Pizzoli)
Iron meteorites, like this large slice of the “San Francisco Mountains” meteorite, show a complex crystal pattern when etched with acid. The crystals indicate the high nickel content in the metal. (Photo credit: Alberto Pizzoli)
[Click here to download PDF]
Aliens-at-Vatican
The Vatican observatory, Castel Gandolfo: 80th anniversary celebration
Pope Francis and participants at the symposium that was the genesis for this book, September 18, 2015.
- Book
- 265 pages
- Level: university
This book was edited by Vatican Observatory astronomers Gabriele Gionti, S. J., and Jean-Baptiste Kikwaya Eluo, S.J., and published in 2018 by Springer. It includes articles on a variety of topics related to the Vatican Observatory, its history, and the work of its astronomers. These topics include the Leap Second Debate, a historical telescope, cosmology, near Earth objects, outreach to the popular press, philosophy, stellar and galactic astronomy, and more. From the publisher:
This book presents contributions from an internal symposium [September 2015] organized to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Specola Vaticana, or Vatican Observatory, in the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo. The aim is to provide an overview of the scientific and cultural work being undertaken at the Observatory today and to describe the outcomes of important recent investigations. The contents cover interesting topics in a variety of areas, including planetary science and instrumentation, stellar evolution and stars, galaxies, cosmology, quantum gravity, the history of astronomy, and interactions between science, philosophy, and theology.
On September 29, 1935, Pope Pius XI officially inaugurated the new headquarters of the Specola Vaticana at Castel Gandolfo. With new telescopes, a new astrophysical laboratory for spectrochemical analysis, and a young staff comprising Jesuit scientists, this inauguration marked the beginning of an intense period of scientific achievements at the Observatory. This anniversary book, featuring contributions from members of the current Observatory staff and adjunct scholars, will appeal to all with an interest in the history of the Specola Vaticana and its significance for astronomy.
Click here for a preview, courtesy of Google Books.
Click here for information from the publisher, Springer.
The Vatican Observatory: In The Service of Nine Popes
- Book (link to publisher)
- 429 pages
- Level: high school and above
This book, written in Italian by Sabino Maffeo, S. J. and translated by George V. Coyne, S. J. (both of the Vatican Observatory), gives the history of the founding and development of the Vatican Observatory. From the web site of the current publisher, University of Notre Dame Press:
The Vatican Observatory: In the Service of Nine Popes records the history of the Vatican Observatory (Specola Vaticana). It was originally published in 1991 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the observatory by Pope Leo XIII. This revised edition brings together many facts hidden in archival material, correspondence, previous publications on the observatory’s history, as well as fresh material derived from interviews. Of particular interest is new research on the difficult period in the observatory’s history as it moved from an institute struggling to establish research programs to a true astronomical observatory.
The Vatican Observatory: In the Service of Nine Popes presents the most complete written history of the Vatican Observatory.
Click here for a version of the full text of this book from NASA-ADS.
The Heavens Proclaim: Astronomy and the Vatican
Click on the image for more information from Google Books.
- Article (PDFs of book chapters)
- Various lengths
- Level: varies from general to advanced audiences
The Heavens Proclaim: Astronomy and the Vatican was a book published by the Vatican Observatory in honor of the Year of the Telescope, 2009. Unfortunately it is now out of print. However, a number of chapters from the book have been posted in various places on this site. These include:
About the Universe (click here)
A Galactic Universe (click here)
A History of the Vatican Observatory (click here)
Astronomy, Calendars, and Religion (click here)
At the VATT (click here)
Extrasolar Planets (click here)
Frequently Asked Questions About The Universe (click here)
Galileo and His Times: Some Episodes (click here)
Is Big Bang Cosmology In Conflict With Divine Creation? (click here)
Meteorites: Aliens At The Vatican (click here)
Popes and Astronomy (click here)
Stars And The Milky Way (click here)
Nove papi, una missione: Cento anni della Specola Vaticana.
Book- Level: all audiences (Italian)
Nove papi, una missione: Cento anni della Specola Vaticana, by Fr. Sabino Maffeo, a physicist with the Vatican Observatory since 1985, was published in 1991, on the occassion of the 100th anniversary of the Vatican Observatory. It is also available in English translation as In the Service of Nine Popes.
Click here for libraries that carry this book.
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