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”).
Continue reading →30 Years of Papal Blessing for VATT
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
Continue reading →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. [Click here to download the PDF]
Continue reading →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.
Continue reading →About The Universe
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 … Continue reading →
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.
Continue reading →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. Click here to read the full article on The Catholic Astronomer – the blog of the Vatican Observatory Foundation.
Continue reading →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…. Click here to read the full … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
An Interview with Dr. Fr. Paul Gabor, S.J.
Article 6000 words (two parts) Level: high school and above An in-depth interview with Vatican Observatory astronomer Paul Gabor, S. J., by Scott Douglas Jacobsen, published in 2016 by In-Sight. Part One – An interview with Dr. Fr. Paul Gabor, S.J. He discusses: childhood and adolescence trajectory influence on him, pivotal moments in personal development towards an interest in science and theology, the gains from the research and professional experiences; motivation for interest in philosophy and theology; the way that the priesthood entered and benefits personal life, and the greatest intellectual stimulation from within the Jesuits; origin of interest in physics, the physics of the small scale, and the instrumental side of particle physics; PhD work and entailed work, explanation for the lay person, and the esoteric aspects of this research. Part two – An interview with Dr. Fr. Paul Gabor, S.J. He discusses: description of research areas and the reason for personal interest in these areas; entering the ranks of … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
Astronomy and Belief (Why does the Vatican have an observatory?)
Article 2000 words Level: all audiences An article by Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J., Director of the Vatican Observatory, addressing the question of why the Vatican has an observatory. This was originally published at ThinkingFaith.org, the online journal of the Jesuits in Britain. Astronomy and Belief ‘Why does the Vatican have an observatory? Aren’t there more important things to do than look at the stars?’ Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno SJ has been asked these questions many times; indeed, he asks them of himself. At an event hosted by the Mount Street Jesuit Centre last month, he explained how he encounters God in his scientific studies. I once caused a stir in a church in Hawaii by announcing that I was ‘an observer from the Vatican.’ Indeed, I am. As it happens, I was in Hawaii to use the telescopes there, just as I also observe with the Vatican’s own telescope in Arizona. That is my job with the Vatican Observatory. Why … Continue reading →
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]
Continue reading →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.
Continue reading →Catholic physicist says harmony of faith, science is seamless, not effortless
Article 1000 words Level: all audiences This 2018 article on CatholicPhilly.com features Jonathan Lunine, a planetary scientist and physicist at Cornell University and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and a convert to Catholicism. Lunine has worked on the Cassini mission to Saturn, the James Webb Space Telescope, and the Juno mission to Jupiter. The article also touches on the Vatican Observatory and the Society of Catholic Scientists, both of which Lupine has been involved with. Click here to access this article courtesy of CatholicPhilly.com.
Continue reading →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.
Continue reading →Contemporary Cosmology and “Creatio ex Nihilo”
Article 4800 words Level: university In this paper by Gabriele Gionti, S.J., an astronomer with the Vatican Observatory Research Group, Gionti notes the problem in thinking of God as the “cause” of the Big Bang in the same way that certain versions of deism think of a “demiurge” god. He notes how there has long been a close relation between cosmology and religion, as the beauty and harmony human beings see looking at the skies invokes the idea of an architect of this harmony. But he argues that Georges Lemaître was right in stressing a separation between theological and scientific methods. [Click here to download PDF]
Continue reading →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?
Continue reading →Deep-dish astronomy: First light for VATT
Article 150 words Level: all audiences Below is the text of a “News Notes” article from Sky & Telescope Magazine, July 1995, announcing the first use 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. Deep-dish astronomy: First light for VATT Observing is now under way at the new Mount Graham International Observatory in Arizona. At the end of January, Richard P. Boyle, S.J. (Vatican Observatory) and Austin B. Tomaney (Columbia University) took the first visible-light images with the 1.8-meter Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT). First among the $3-million instrument’s noteworthy attributes is its deep, “salad-bowl” f/1.0 primary mirror (S&T: March 1994, page 12). It was one of the first to be formed by spin-casting techniques developed at the University of Arizona. Such a fast primary requires the secondary to be positioned with micron precision to achieve proper focus. These inaugural images of the Crab Nebula in Taurus … Continue reading →
Discovered at the VATT
Flyer 4 pages Level: high school and above A January 2020 flyer produced by the Vatican Observatory Foundation that highlights the science done with the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope or VATT. The flyer was created for the 25th anniversary of the VATT. [Click here to download PDF]
Continue reading →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]
Continue reading →Finding God in the Cosmos: An Interview with a Vatican Astronomer
Article 1700 words Level: all audiences A 2018 interview of Vatican Observatory astronomer David Brown, S.J., by Sean Salai, S.J., for America: The Jesuit Review. Salai writes: David Brown, S.J., is a Vatican astronomer specializing in stellar evolution and a native of New Orleans who joined the Society of Jesus in 1991 after earning his B.S. in physics at Texas A&M University. Ordained a priest in 2002, Father Brown completed his Ph.D. in astrophysics at the University of Oxford in England in 2008. Father Brown joined the Vatican Observatory in November 2008, working as a research astronomer and serving as caretaker of the telescopes in Castel Gandolfo. He is a member since 2009 of the American Astronomical Society and since 2012 of the International Astronomical Union. On Oct. 2, I interviewed him at Rockhurst High School during a lecture stop in Kansas City. The focus of the interview is the overlap between Fr. Brown’s vocation as a Jesuit and his … Continue reading →
Francis – Address to Participants in the Summer Course of the Vatican Observatory
Article (Papal Address) 560 words Level: all audiences In 2014 Pope Francis addressed the participants in the Vatican Observatory’s summer school. This article has been selected by the Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science (Inters.org), which is edited by the Advanced School for Interdisciplinary Research, operating at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome, and directed by Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti. Pope Francis notes: Here too we see a further reason for the Church’s commitment to dialogue with the sciences on the basis of the light provided by faith: it is her conviction that faith is capable of both expanding and enriching the horizons of reason. In this dialogue, the Church rejoices in the marvelous progress of science, seeing it as a sign of the enormous God-given potential of the human mind, even as a mother rejoices and is rightly proud as her children grow “in wisdom, and age and grace” (Lk 2:52). Click here for this material from Inters.org. Click here for … Continue reading →
Galileo’s Sons, a film about the Vatican Observatory
Video 48 minutes Level: all audiences An award-winning 2004 film on the Vatican Observatory–from Bullfrog Films, directed by Alison Rose. From Bullfrog Films: Castel Gandolfo, nestled in the hills southeast of Rome, acts as the Pope’s summer residence. In one wing of this palace is the headquarters for the Vatican Observatory. Since 1891, Jesuit astronomers and astrophysicsts have utilized their scientific expertise to explore fundamental questions that engage all people of faith: how did the cosmos come to be, and what is our place in it? A large part of the film is dedicated to interviews with alumni of the Vatican Observatory Summer Schools; these students reflect on their own thoughts about science and religion and their experience spending four weeks with the Vatican astronomers. Click here for a link to Bullfrog Films web page on “Galileo’s Sons”.
Continue reading →God Is Also a Cosmologist
Article 900 words Level: all audiences This New York Times article is about an international gathering of cosmologists and astrophysicists hosted by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, in Berkeley, California in 1997. The purpose of the conference was to explore how contemporary cosmology, the scientific study of the universe, might be compatible with various religions, with focus on the three monotheistic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Featured in the article are Joel Primack, a cosmologist at the University of California at Santa Cruz; Andrei Linde, a Stanford University physicist; John Barrow, from Sussex University; Edward Harrison, an astrophysicist with the University of Massachusetts; and Fr. William Stoeger, S.J., of the Vatican Observatory Research Group at the University of Arizona at Tucson. Click here to access this article courtesy of The New York Times.
Continue reading →Hobby Astronomer Priest Keeps His Eyes on the Heavens
Audio 40 minutes Level: all audiences A 2020 interview with James Kurzynski, a priest of the Diocese of LaCrosse, Wisconsin, who is an amateur astronomer, a writer for the Vatican Observatory Sacred Space Astronomy blog, and a presenter for the VO Faith and Science workshops. The conversation covers a variety of topics: How Kurzynski’s own interests in both the natural world (especially astronomy) and in the priesthood developed through his youth. His view on what science is—a powerful, but limited, way of describing an aspect of creation. The nuts and bolts of being an amateur astronomer, and the experiences of amateur astronomers—ranging from a tendency to overfocus on equipment, to being culturally misunderstood, to showing family members the Milky Way. His involvement with the Vatican Observatory and his role in the Faith and Science workshops. Click here for the audio, from Minnesota Catholic Podcasts.
Continue reading →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.
Continue reading →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.
Continue reading →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.
Continue reading →Mapping with the stars: Nuns instrumental in Vatican celestial survey
Article 1000 words Level: all audiences Emilia Ponzoni, Regina Colombo, Concetta Finardi and Luigia Panceri were all Sisters of the Holy Child Mary and were part of a global effort in the early twentieth century to make a complete map and catalog of the starry skies. Carol Glatz discusses these nuns and their connection to the Vatican Observatory in this 2016 article. Click here to access this article via Catholic News Service. Click here to access this article via the National Catholic Reporter. Click here for a version of this article from the Smithsonian. Click here for a well-illustrated version from CityLab. Click here for a brief mention of these nuns in a 1919 article entitled “Woman’s Work in Astronomy”, by Dorothea Klumpke Roberts, published in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (courtesy of Google Books).
Continue reading →Meteorites: Aliens At The Vatican
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 [Click here to download PDF]
Continue reading →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”.
Continue reading →On Stellar Spectrometry
Article 4 pages Level: high school and above This is an 1868 paper by Fr. Angelo Secchi, who conducted pioneering research into the nature of stars and whose work laid the foundations for the modern Vatican Observatory. Here Fr. Secchi groups stars by the characteristics of their spectra, noting that stars seem to fall into a certain number of types. He writes, “We have therefore, without doubt, in the heavens a grand fact, the fundamental distinction between the stars according to a small number of types; this opens a field for very many important cosmological speculations.” He also notes that observing the spectra of stars can tell us something about their motions. Indeed, studying the motions of stars by means of their spectra has yielded all sorts of information about them, including whether they have planets orbiting them. Fr. Secchi’s paper was published in the Report of the Thirty-Eighth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science [1868]. Click … Continue reading →
Pope Paul VI at the Vatican Observatory for Apollo 11
Video 5 minutes Level: all audiences Good-quality color video from 1969 of Pope Paul VI at the Vatican Observatory at Castel Gandolfo during the Apollo 11 lunar landing. The pope is seen viewing the moon through an auxiliary telescope attached to the V.O.’s 1.0 meter Schmidt telescope, and then speaking publicly on the landing from that telescope. Most of the video is in Italian, but the last portion features the Pope offering a statement in English.
Continue reading →Preserving and sharing the wealth of the Vatican Observatory
Article 2 pages Level: all audiences This article by Fr. Alessandro Omizzolo, S. J., an astronomer with the Vatican Observatory, describes efforts to preserve the photographic archives of the Vatican Observatory. The article appeared in The Planetarian in December 2015. Omizzolo writes: The photographic plates, over time, are subject to deterioration and, in some cases, the posting from sensitive layer of glass jelly with consequent loss without possibility of recovery of any information. For this reason, in 2003 the Vatican Observatory decided to preserve the photographic archive by digitizing it…. In addition to preserving the heritage they contain, scientific goals can be reached thanks to digitalization, including: the study/discovery of previous transits of near-Earth objects, stars with high proper motion, spectral classification on large fields, curves of variability of quasars or variable stars, and more. The only way to preserve information stored in photographic plates and make it available to the international scientific community is to digitalize it and store the … Continue reading →
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 →
Questions and Answers with Fr. William Stoeger of the Vatican Observatory
Videos (5) Each video approximately 3 minutes Level: all audiences Fr. William Stoeger, S. J. (1943-2014) was a staff scientist for the Vatican Observatory Research Group in Tucson, specializing in theoretical cosmology, high-energy astrophysics, and interdisciplinary studies relating to science, philosophy and theology. In these videos from Loyola Productions Munich he responds to a variety of questions. The videos were recorded in 2001.
Continue reading →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 … Continue reading →
Semblanza de Michael Heller (Premio Templeton 2008)
Article 1100 words Level: all audiences A brief discussion by Javier Sánchez Cañizares regarding the life and work of Fr. Michael Heller (Fr. Heller is an adjunct scholar with the Vatican Observatory), on the occasion of Fr. Heller being awarded the 2008 Templeton Prize. Javier Sánchez Cañizares is part of the Grupo Ciencia, Razón y Fe at Universidad de Navarra. He writes: A partir de la supremacía de una superestructura matemática ideal (un campo formal o campo de ‘racionalidad’) sobre la materia, su pensamiento conduce a la idea tradicional de un Dios trascendente que, por otra parte, es el origen creador, el fundamento del ser, del que surge el espacio-tiempo del mundo creado. Heller explica su posición así en la conferencia de recepción del premio: “Los procesos del universo pueden ser visualizados como una sucesión de estados de modo que el estado precedente es causa del siguiente (…). Hay siempre una ley dinámica que prescribe cómo un estado genera otro. … Continue reading →
Sneaking a visit inside the Vatican Observatory
Article 460 words Level: all audiences This brief 2009 article, written by John Norton and published in Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly, provides a short introduction to the Vatican Observatory. Sneaking a visit inside the Vatican Observatory The Church played a significant role in the advance of astronomy. John Norton OSV Newsweekly I spent Christmas 1989 with two college friends in Castel Gandolfo, a small town outside Rome best known as the site of the pope’s summer residence — and, less so, as the headquarters of the Vatican Observatory. We ended up there because a friend knew a family named the Buccis who owned a small and very inexpensive hotel in Castel Gandolfo. So there we set up camp for two weeks, making daily forays by train into Rome, and drawn back each night by Mama Bucci’s cooking. Twenty years on, I still get hungry at the thought of her white lasagna. Another regular mouth at Mama Bucci’s table belonged to … Continue reading →
Star-mapping Sisters
A post by Br. Guy Consolmagnoi on The Catholic Astronomer about four religious sisters in the early 20th century who played an essential role in producing the first photographic atlas of the stars.
Continue reading →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]
Continue reading →Talking science and God with Science Magazine
This link to an interview with Br. Guy Consolmagno explores some of the assumptions behind the question of baptism and Ets.
Continue reading →The Heavens Proclaim: Astronomy and the Vatican
Chapters by members of the Vatican Observatory discuss our history, our current research, and reflections on our role in the world of science and faith. Editions in English, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, and Slovak.
Continue reading →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. Click here to read the full article on The Catholic Astronomer – the blog of the Vatican Observatory Foundation.
Continue reading →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”).
Continue reading →The Outreach Programme for Science and Education at the Jesuit Colleges of Tamil Nadu in India
Article 8 pages Level: high school and above This article by M. Devasagayam, S. J., of the Department of Mathematics at St. Xavier’s College in India, highlights a variety of science education activities. It was published in International Symposium on Astrophysics Research and Science Education, published in 1999 by the Vatican Observatory. Click here to access this article via NASA ADS. Click here to download a PDF of this article from NASA ADS.
Continue reading →The Peaceful Uses of Solar System Resources: Opportunities and Issues
Article 3800 words Level: all audiences This is the English text of an article by Br. Guy Consolmagno, Director of the Vatican Observatory, that was published in La Civiltà Cattolica in 2019 which in turn was based on a paper presented to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in November 2016 and published in Science and Sustainability: Impacts of Scientific Knowledge and Technology on Human Society and Its Environment. Click here for the version published in La Civiltà Cattolica. Click here for the Science and Sustainability presentation. [Click here to download PDF]
Continue reading →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.
Continue reading →The Vatican Observatory – Rome (1929)
Video (silent) 2.5 minutes Level: all audiences A silent newsreel of the Vatican Observatory, this was an item in Pathe Pictorial issue number 577. It features telescopes, Vatican Observatory personnel, and photos taken through Vatican Observatory telescopes. Click here to access this video via the British Pathé website.
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.
Continue reading →The Vatican Observatory (Popular Astronomy, 1903)
Article 5 pages Level: all audiences This 1903 article in the magazine Popular Astronomy describes the Vatican Observatory after it had been re-established by Pope Leo XIII. Some photos are included in the article. The author, W. Alfred Parr, writes: When towards the middle of the ninth century Pope Leo IV sought to stem the further ravages of the Saracen hordes by strengthening the defences of Rome and enclosing the Vatican hill with massive turreted walls, he could little imagine that these same walls, designed so well to bear the engines of war that were to dominate the country round, would, more than a thousand years later, be required by a successor and namesake to harbor a weapon of science of a potency little dreamt of in those days—a weapon whose range of power should penetrate to the confines of the unknown itself. For, after the conclusion of the International Photographic Conference on the charting of the heavens, held in Paris … Continue reading →
The Vatican observatory, Castel Gandolfo: 80th anniversary celebration
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, … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
The Vatican: Art and Astronomy
Book 100 pages Level: all audiences In the 1990s, the artist John David Mooney visited the Vatican Observatory and created a number of temporary art installations (click here for a sampling of these) that are shown in this coffee-table book entitled The Vatican Observatory and the Arts: The Sculpture of John David Mooney at Castel Gandolfo, now available from the University of Notre Dame Press. A book about art is not the unusual undertaking that it might seem for the Vatican Observatory. As a scientific research institute of the Church it is dedicated to research in astrophysics and cosmology. But it has also over the past decade or so ventured into areas of interdisciplinary interest. Such adventuresome efforts are actually deeply rooted in the Observatory’s traditions which can be traced back to the Tower of the Winds, a sixteenth-century monument to both art and science, that arises above the Vatican Museums in Rome. There we find beautiful frescoes depicting the four … Continue reading →
The World and the Universe Meet at Castel Gandolfo
Article 6 pages Level: all audiences This article from the May 2000 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine discusses the Vatican Observatory and in particular the Vatican Observatory Summer School (or VOSS) program. THE SMALL, PICTURESQUE TOWN of Castel Gandolfo lies 25 kilometers southeast of Rome. Sitting on top of a ridge 500 meters above sea level, it overlooks the tranquil, greenish blue Lake Albano, formed by the collapse of an ancient volcanic crater. The town’s narrow, cobbled main street leads past little cafes, souvenir shops, and a beautiful church and fountain designed by the 17th-century Italian artist Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini. Finally you come to a four-story ocher edifice with small shuttered windows and a pair of massive wooden doors–the Pontifical Palace of the Roman Catholic Church. Officially a part of Vatican City, this is where Pope John Paul II spends the summer months to escape Rome’s oppressive heat and humidity. It is also the headquarters of Vatican Observatory. Every … Continue reading →
Two Vatican Savants Honored
Article 200 words Level: all audiences This brief article from the November 5, 1921 issue of America – A Catholic Review of the Week discusses Fr. J. G, Hagen, S. J., of the Vatican Observatory being honored. Click here for the original article, courtesy of Google Books. Two Vatican Savants Honored Attention is called in the Pilot to the recent celebration at Rome of the sixtieth anniversary of the entrance into the Society of Jesus of the famous Vatican Librarian, Father Franz Ehrle, “whose learning and zeal have been recognized by three Roman Pontiffs and who is well known throughout Italy for his studies and researches.” Father Ehrle entered the Jesuit novitiate at Gorheim in September, 1861. His connection with the Roman archives began in 1880 when he undertook a social investigation. In 1889 he published the first volume of his great work on the history of the Papal Library, a monument of careful research, and in 1891 he was made Prefect of the Vatican Library. … Continue reading →
Vatican Observatory astronomers getting research published
Article (blog post) 900 words Level: all audiences A post on The Catholic Astronomer blog reviewing recent research activity by Vatican Observatory astronomers. Click here to read the full article on The Catholic Astronomer – the blog of the Vatican Observatory Foundation.
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 →
VOF Astronomy Tour of Chile 2015
Video 7 minutes Level: all audiences A group of Vatican Observatory Foundation friends, accompanied by astronomers Br. Guy Consolmagno and Dr. Faith Vilas, were hosted by the European Southern Observatory on a magnificent tour of observatories and telescopes in Chile. The 12 day tour visited La Silla, Las Campanas, Paranal, and ALMA with evening star gazing to view the incredibly clear skies and some of the brightest stars on earth. Never has the Milky Way been so amazing! This video is from the Vatican Observatory Foundation.
Continue reading →What is the Vatican Observatory
Video 8.5 minutes Level: all audiences Join Br. Bob Macke, S.J., an astronomer with the Vatican Observatory, to find out more about the Pope’s astronomers and their observatory.
Continue reading →When Astronomers and Environmentalists Clash over a Sky Island.
Book chapter 8 pages Level: all audiences This chapter by Vatican Observatory astronomer Christopher Corbally, from the book Creative Creatures: Values and Ethical Issues in Theology, Science, and Technology, discusses Mt. Graham, which has high value both as a location for astronomical observatories (today including the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope and the Large Binocular Telescope) and as a biological preserve. Click here for a preview from Google Books.
Continue reading →30 Years of Papal Blessing for VATT
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
Continue reading →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.
Continue reading →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. Click here to read the full article on The Catholic Astronomer – the blog of the Vatican Observatory Foundation.
Continue reading →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…. Click here to read the full … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
Astronomy and Belief (Why does the Vatican have an observatory?)
Article 2000 words Level: all audiences An article by Br. Guy Consolmagno, S. J., Director of the Vatican Observatory, addressing the question of why the Vatican has an observatory. This was originally published at ThinkingFaith.org, the online journal of the Jesuits in Britain. Astronomy and Belief ‘Why does the Vatican have an observatory? Aren’t there more important things to do than look at the stars?’ Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno SJ has been asked these questions many times; indeed, he asks them of himself. At an event hosted by the Mount Street Jesuit Centre last month, he explained how he encounters God in his scientific studies. I once caused a stir in a church in Hawaii by announcing that I was ‘an observer from the Vatican.’ Indeed, I am. As it happens, I was in Hawaii to use the telescopes there, just as I also observe with the Vatican’s own telescope in Arizona. That is my job with the Vatican Observatory. Why … Continue reading →
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]
Continue reading →Catholic physicist says harmony of faith, science is seamless, not effortless
Article 1000 words Level: all audiences This 2018 article on CatholicPhilly.com features Jonathan Lunine, a planetary scientist and physicist at Cornell University and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and a convert to Catholicism. Lunine has worked on the Cassini mission to Saturn, the James Webb Space Telescope, and the Juno mission to Jupiter. The article also touches on the Vatican Observatory and the Society of Catholic Scientists, both of which Lupine has been involved with. Click here to access this article courtesy of CatholicPhilly.com.
Continue reading →Deep-dish astronomy: First light for VATT
Article 150 words Level: all audiences Below is the text of a “News Notes” article from Sky & Telescope Magazine, July 1995, announcing the first use 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. Deep-dish astronomy: First light for VATT Observing is now under way at the new Mount Graham International Observatory in Arizona. At the end of January, Richard P. Boyle, S.J. (Vatican Observatory) and Austin B. Tomaney (Columbia University) took the first visible-light images with the 1.8-meter Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT). First among the $3-million instrument’s noteworthy attributes is its deep, “salad-bowl” f/1.0 primary mirror (S&T: March 1994, page 12). It was one of the first to be formed by spin-casting techniques developed at the University of Arizona. Such a fast primary requires the secondary to be positioned with micron precision to achieve proper focus. These inaugural images of the Crab Nebula in Taurus … Continue reading →
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]
Continue reading →Finding God in the Cosmos: An Interview with a Vatican Astronomer
Article 1700 words Level: all audiences A 2018 interview of Vatican Observatory astronomer David Brown, S.J., by Sean Salai, S.J., for America: The Jesuit Review. Salai writes: David Brown, S.J., is a Vatican astronomer specializing in stellar evolution and a native of New Orleans who joined the Society of Jesus in 1991 after earning his B.S. in physics at Texas A&M University. Ordained a priest in 2002, Father Brown completed his Ph.D. in astrophysics at the University of Oxford in England in 2008. Father Brown joined the Vatican Observatory in November 2008, working as a research astronomer and serving as caretaker of the telescopes in Castel Gandolfo. He is a member since 2009 of the American Astronomical Society and since 2012 of the International Astronomical Union. On Oct. 2, I interviewed him at Rockhurst High School during a lecture stop in Kansas City. The focus of the interview is the overlap between Fr. Brown’s vocation as a Jesuit and his … Continue reading →
Francis – Address to Participants in the Summer Course of the Vatican Observatory
Article (Papal Address) 560 words Level: all audiences In 2014 Pope Francis addressed the participants in the Vatican Observatory’s summer school. This article has been selected by the Interdisciplinary Encyclopedia of Religion and Science (Inters.org), which is edited by the Advanced School for Interdisciplinary Research, operating at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome, and directed by Giuseppe Tanzella-Nitti. Pope Francis notes: Here too we see a further reason for the Church’s commitment to dialogue with the sciences on the basis of the light provided by faith: it is her conviction that faith is capable of both expanding and enriching the horizons of reason. In this dialogue, the Church rejoices in the marvelous progress of science, seeing it as a sign of the enormous God-given potential of the human mind, even as a mother rejoices and is rightly proud as her children grow “in wisdom, and age and grace” (Lk 2:52). Click here for this material from Inters.org. Click here for … Continue reading →
God Is Also a Cosmologist
Article 900 words Level: all audiences This New York Times article is about an international gathering of cosmologists and astrophysicists hosted by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, in Berkeley, California in 1997. The purpose of the conference was to explore how contemporary cosmology, the scientific study of the universe, might be compatible with various religions, with focus on the three monotheistic faiths: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Featured in the article are Joel Primack, a cosmologist at the University of California at Santa Cruz; Andrei Linde, a Stanford University physicist; John Barrow, from Sussex University; Edward Harrison, an astrophysicist with the University of Massachusetts; and Fr. William Stoeger, S.J., of the Vatican Observatory Research Group at the University of Arizona at Tucson. Click here to access this article courtesy of The New York Times.
Continue reading →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.
Continue reading →Mapping with the stars: Nuns instrumental in Vatican celestial survey
Article 1000 words Level: all audiences Emilia Ponzoni, Regina Colombo, Concetta Finardi and Luigia Panceri were all Sisters of the Holy Child Mary and were part of a global effort in the early twentieth century to make a complete map and catalog of the starry skies. Carol Glatz discusses these nuns and their connection to the Vatican Observatory in this 2016 article. Click here to access this article via Catholic News Service. Click here to access this article via the National Catholic Reporter. Click here for a version of this article from the Smithsonian. Click here for a well-illustrated version from CityLab. Click here for a brief mention of these nuns in a 1919 article entitled “Woman’s Work in Astronomy”, by Dorothea Klumpke Roberts, published in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (courtesy of Google Books).
Continue reading →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 →
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 … Continue reading →
Semblanza de Michael Heller (Premio Templeton 2008)
Article 1100 words Level: all audiences A brief discussion by Javier Sánchez Cañizares regarding the life and work of Fr. Michael Heller (Fr. Heller is an adjunct scholar with the Vatican Observatory), on the occasion of Fr. Heller being awarded the 2008 Templeton Prize. Javier Sánchez Cañizares is part of the Grupo Ciencia, Razón y Fe at Universidad de Navarra. He writes: A partir de la supremacía de una superestructura matemática ideal (un campo formal o campo de ‘racionalidad’) sobre la materia, su pensamiento conduce a la idea tradicional de un Dios trascendente que, por otra parte, es el origen creador, el fundamento del ser, del que surge el espacio-tiempo del mundo creado. Heller explica su posición así en la conferencia de recepción del premio: “Los procesos del universo pueden ser visualizados como una sucesión de estados de modo que el estado precedente es causa del siguiente (…). Hay siempre una ley dinámica que prescribe cómo un estado genera otro. … Continue reading →
Sneaking a visit inside the Vatican Observatory
Article 460 words Level: all audiences This brief 2009 article, written by John Norton and published in Our Sunday Visitor Newsweekly, provides a short introduction to the Vatican Observatory. Sneaking a visit inside the Vatican Observatory The Church played a significant role in the advance of astronomy. John Norton OSV Newsweekly I spent Christmas 1989 with two college friends in Castel Gandolfo, a small town outside Rome best known as the site of the pope’s summer residence — and, less so, as the headquarters of the Vatican Observatory. We ended up there because a friend knew a family named the Buccis who owned a small and very inexpensive hotel in Castel Gandolfo. So there we set up camp for two weeks, making daily forays by train into Rome, and drawn back each night by Mama Bucci’s cooking. Twenty years on, I still get hungry at the thought of her white lasagna. Another regular mouth at Mama Bucci’s table belonged to … Continue reading →
Star-mapping Sisters
A post by Br. Guy Consolmagnoi on The Catholic Astronomer about four religious sisters in the early 20th century who played an essential role in producing the first photographic atlas of the stars.
Continue reading →Talking science and God with Science Magazine
This link to an interview with Br. Guy Consolmagno explores some of the assumptions behind the question of baptism and Ets.
Continue reading →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. Click here to read the full article on The Catholic Astronomer – the blog of the Vatican Observatory Foundation.
Continue reading →The Outreach Programme for Science and Education at the Jesuit Colleges of Tamil Nadu in India
Article 8 pages Level: high school and above This article by M. Devasagayam, S. J., of the Department of Mathematics at St. Xavier’s College in India, highlights a variety of science education activities. It was published in International Symposium on Astrophysics Research and Science Education, published in 1999 by the Vatican Observatory. Click here to access this article via NASA ADS. Click here to download a PDF of this article from NASA ADS.
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.
Continue reading →The Vatican Observatory (Popular Astronomy, 1903)
Article 5 pages Level: all audiences This 1903 article in the magazine Popular Astronomy describes the Vatican Observatory after it had been re-established by Pope Leo XIII. Some photos are included in the article. The author, W. Alfred Parr, writes: When towards the middle of the ninth century Pope Leo IV sought to stem the further ravages of the Saracen hordes by strengthening the defences of Rome and enclosing the Vatican hill with massive turreted walls, he could little imagine that these same walls, designed so well to bear the engines of war that were to dominate the country round, would, more than a thousand years later, be required by a successor and namesake to harbor a weapon of science of a potency little dreamt of in those days—a weapon whose range of power should penetrate to the confines of the unknown itself. For, after the conclusion of the International Photographic Conference on the charting of the heavens, held in Paris … Continue reading →
The Vatican: Art and Astronomy
Book 100 pages Level: all audiences In the 1990s, the artist John David Mooney visited the Vatican Observatory and created a number of temporary art installations (click here for a sampling of these) that are shown in this coffee-table book entitled The Vatican Observatory and the Arts: The Sculpture of John David Mooney at Castel Gandolfo, now available from the University of Notre Dame Press. A book about art is not the unusual undertaking that it might seem for the Vatican Observatory. As a scientific research institute of the Church it is dedicated to research in astrophysics and cosmology. But it has also over the past decade or so ventured into areas of interdisciplinary interest. Such adventuresome efforts are actually deeply rooted in the Observatory’s traditions which can be traced back to the Tower of the Winds, a sixteenth-century monument to both art and science, that arises above the Vatican Museums in Rome. There we find beautiful frescoes depicting the four … Continue reading →
The World and the Universe Meet at Castel Gandolfo
Article 6 pages Level: all audiences This article from the May 2000 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine discusses the Vatican Observatory and in particular the Vatican Observatory Summer School (or VOSS) program. THE SMALL, PICTURESQUE TOWN of Castel Gandolfo lies 25 kilometers southeast of Rome. Sitting on top of a ridge 500 meters above sea level, it overlooks the tranquil, greenish blue Lake Albano, formed by the collapse of an ancient volcanic crater. The town’s narrow, cobbled main street leads past little cafes, souvenir shops, and a beautiful church and fountain designed by the 17th-century Italian artist Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini. Finally you come to a four-story ocher edifice with small shuttered windows and a pair of massive wooden doors–the Pontifical Palace of the Roman Catholic Church. Officially a part of Vatican City, this is where Pope John Paul II spends the summer months to escape Rome’s oppressive heat and humidity. It is also the headquarters of Vatican Observatory. Every … Continue reading →
Vatican Observatory astronomers getting research published
Article (blog post) 900 words Level: all audiences A post on The Catholic Astronomer blog reviewing recent research activity by Vatican Observatory astronomers. Click here to read the full article on The Catholic Astronomer – the blog of the Vatican Observatory Foundation.
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 →
When Astronomers and Environmentalists Clash over a Sky Island.
Book chapter 8 pages Level: all audiences This chapter by Vatican Observatory astronomer Christopher Corbally, from the book Creative Creatures: Values and Ethical Issues in Theology, Science, and Technology, discusses Mt. Graham, which has high value both as a location for astronomical observatories (today including the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope and the Large Binocular Telescope) and as a biological preserve. Click here for a preview from Google Books.
Continue reading →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”).
Continue reading →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 … Continue reading →
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.
Continue reading →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.
Continue reading →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?
Continue reading →Galileo’s Sons, a film about the Vatican Observatory
Video 48 minutes Level: all audiences An award-winning 2004 film on the Vatican Observatory–from Bullfrog Films, directed by Alison Rose. From Bullfrog Films: Castel Gandolfo, nestled in the hills southeast of Rome, acts as the Pope’s summer residence. In one wing of this palace is the headquarters for the Vatican Observatory. Since 1891, Jesuit astronomers and astrophysicsts have utilized their scientific expertise to explore fundamental questions that engage all people of faith: how did the cosmos come to be, and what is our place in it? A large part of the film is dedicated to interviews with alumni of the Vatican Observatory Summer Schools; these students reflect on their own thoughts about science and religion and their experience spending four weeks with the Vatican astronomers. Click here for a link to Bullfrog Films web page on “Galileo’s Sons”.
Continue reading →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.
Continue reading →Pope Paul VI at the Vatican Observatory for Apollo 11
Video 5 minutes Level: all audiences Good-quality color video from 1969 of Pope Paul VI at the Vatican Observatory at Castel Gandolfo during the Apollo 11 lunar landing. The pope is seen viewing the moon through an auxiliary telescope attached to the V.O.’s 1.0 meter Schmidt telescope, and then speaking publicly on the landing from that telescope. Most of the video is in Italian, but the last portion features the Pope offering a statement in English.
Continue reading →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”).
Continue reading →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.
Continue reading →The Vatican Observatory – Rome (1929)
Video (silent) 2.5 minutes Level: all audiences A silent newsreel of the Vatican Observatory, this was an item in Pathe Pictorial issue number 577. It features telescopes, Vatican Observatory personnel, and photos taken through Vatican Observatory telescopes. Click here to access this video via the British Pathé website.
Continue reading →VOF Astronomy Tour of Chile 2015
Video 7 minutes Level: all audiences A group of Vatican Observatory Foundation friends, accompanied by astronomers Br. Guy Consolmagno and Dr. Faith Vilas, were hosted by the European Southern Observatory on a magnificent tour of observatories and telescopes in Chile. The 12 day tour visited La Silla, Las Campanas, Paranal, and ALMA with evening star gazing to view the incredibly clear skies and some of the brightest stars on earth. Never has the Milky Way been so amazing! This video is from the Vatican Observatory Foundation.
Continue reading →What is the Vatican Observatory
Video 8.5 minutes Level: all audiences Join Br. Bob Macke, S.J., an astronomer with the Vatican Observatory, to find out more about the Pope’s astronomers and their observatory.
Continue reading →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.
Continue reading →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”.
Continue reading →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. [Click here to download the PDF]
Continue reading →About The Universe
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 … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →
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]
Continue reading →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]
Continue reading →Meteorites: Aliens At The Vatican
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 [Click here to download PDF]
Continue reading →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]
Continue reading →The Heavens Proclaim: Astronomy and the Vatican
Chapters by members of the Vatican Observatory discuss our history, our current research, and reflections on our role in the world of science and faith. Editions in English, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, and Slovak.
Continue reading →The Vatican observatory, Castel Gandolfo: 80th anniversary celebration
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, … Continue reading →
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 … Continue reading →