Vatican Observatory

The Vatican Observatory ({{Langx|it|Specola Vaticana}}) is an astronomical research and educational institution supported by the Holy See. Originally based in the Roman College of Rome, the Observatory is now headquartered in Castel Gandolfo, Italy and operates a telescope at the Mount Graham International Observatory in the United States.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/science/23Vatican.html?hpw|title=Vatican's Celestial Eye, Seeking Not Angels but Data|last=Johnson|first=George|date=22 June 2009|work=The New York Times|access-date=24 June 2009}}

The Director of the Observatory is Brother Guy Consolmagno, an American Jesuit. In 2008, the Templeton Prize was awarded to cosmologist Fr. Michał Heller, a Vatican Observatory Adjunct Scholar. In 2010, the George Van Biesbroeck Prize was awarded to former observatory director, the American Jesuit, Fr. George Coyne.{{cite news

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History

The Church has had a long-standing interest in astronomy, due to the astronomical basis of the calendar by which holy days and Easter are determined. For instance, the Gregorian Calendar, promulgated in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, was developed by Aloysius Lilius and later modified by Christoph Clavius at the Collegio Romano from astronomical data. The Gregorian Tower was completed in 1580 for his purpose, designed by Bolognese architect Ottaviano Nonni.

In the 18th century, the Papacy actively supported astronomy, establishing the Observatory of the Roman College in 1774. In 1787–1789, the Specola Vaticana in the Tower of the Winds within the Vatican was established under the direction of Msgr. Filippo Luigi Gilii (1756–1821). When Msgr. Gilii died, the Specola was closed down because it was inconvenient for students in the city because the dome of St. Peter's obstructed its view. Its instruments were transferred to the College Observatory. A third facility, the Observatory of the Capitol, was operated from 1827 to 1870.

Father Angelo Secchi SJ relocated the College Observatory to the top of Sant'Ignazio di Loyola a Campo Marzio (Church of St. Ignatius in Rome). In 1870, with the capture of Rome, the College Observatory fell into the hands of the Italian Government. Out of respect for his work, however, Father Secchi was permitted to continue using the Observatory. After Secchi's death in 1878 the Observatory was nationalized by the Italian government and renamed the Regio Osservatorio al Collegio Romano ("Royal Observatory at the Roman College"), ending astronomical research in the Vatican.

In 1891, however, Pope Leo XIII issued a Motu proprio re-founding the Specola Vaticana (Vatican Observatory) and a new observatory was built on the walls at the edge of the Vatican.[http://www.vaticanobservatory.org/VOF/index.php/about-us/history History of the Vatican Observatory] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121218091016/http://vaticanobservatory.org/VOF/index.php/about-us/history |date=18 December 2012 }}. Vatican Observatory Foundation. Retrieved 28 September 2013. The new Vatican Observatory remained there for the next forty years.

In the late nineteenth-century the Vatican Observatory was part of a group of top astronomy institutions from around the world which worked together to create a photographic "Celestial Map" ("Carte du Ciel") and an "astrographic" catalog pinpointing the stars' positions. Italian astronomer Father Francesco Denza led the Vatican's contribution to the project until his death in 1894. In the early twentieth century, Father John Hagen took over the project and recruited a group of nuns from the Sisters of the Holy Child Mary to work on the necessary recording and calculations. The nuns, Sisters Emilia Ponzoni, Regina Colombo, Concetta Finardi and Luigia Panceri, helped map and catalog nearly half a million stars.{{Cite web|url=https://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2016/nuns-instrumental-in-vatican-celestial-survey.cfm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429120230/http://www.catholicnews.com/services/englishnews/2016/nuns-instrumental-in-vatican-celestial-survey.cfm|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 April 2016|title=Mapping with the stars: Nuns instrumental in Vatican celestial survey|website=www.catholicnews.com|access-date=26 December 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/these-little-known-nuns-helped-map-stars-180959012/|title=These Little-Known Nuns Helped Map the Stars|last=Blakemore|first=Erin|website=Smithsonian Magazine|language=en|access-date=26 December 2019}}

File:Vatican Observatory 1891.jpg

file:Pontifical palace and Vatican Observatory, Castel Gandolfo.jpg

By the 1930s, the smoke and sky-glow of the city had made it impossible to conduct useful observations in Rome. Pope Pius XI relocated the Observatory to Castel Gandolfo, which is {{convert|25|km|mi}} southeast of Rome. By 1961, the same problems with light pollution made observing difficult at Castel Gandolfo. The Observatory then established the Vatican Observatory Research Group (VORG), with offices at the Steward Observatory of the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona.

D.K.J. O'Connell produced the first color photographs of a green flash at sunset in 1960.{{cite book |title=Lights in the Sky: Identifying and Understanding Astronomical and Meteorological Phenomena |last=Maunder |first=Michael |year=2007 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1846287619 |page=72 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kqv5G6O1rFUC |access-date=28 September 2013}} In 1993, VORG completed construction of the {{convert|1.8|m|in}} Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, which is at Mount Graham near Safford, Arizona.

Prof Sister Natalia Zotov OP SFCC spent two summers at the observatory, the first woman to work there as an astronomer.Williams, Deborah and Crean, Mike "Scientist devoted to religious faith", The Press (Christchurch) 14 Jul 2012" page C15

The Observatory's headquarters remain in Italy at Castel Gandolfo. In early 2008, the Vatican announced that the Observatory would be relocated to a former convent a mile away from the castle as part of a general reconstruction of the Papal residence. Its former space would be used to provide more room for the reception of diplomatic visitors. The old quarters in the castle were cramped and very poorly laid out for the Observatory's use. VORG research activities in Arizona continued unaffected.

Leadership

Francesco Denza, B (1891–1894)
Giuseppe Lais, CO (1894–1898)
Ángel Rodríguez de Prada, OSA (1898-1905){{cite web|title=Real Academia de la Historia |url=https://dbe.rah.es/biografias/35562/angel-rodriguez-prada}}
Johann Georg Hagen, SJ (1906–1930)
Johan Stein, SJ (1930–1951)
Daniel Joseph Kelly O'Connell, SJ (1952–1971)
Patrick Treanor, SJ (1971–1978)
George Coyne, SJ (1978–2006)
José Gabriel Funes, SJ (19 August 2006{{cite press release | access-date = 14 February 2020 | language = it | date = 19 August 2006 | publisher = Holy See Press Office | url = https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2006/08/19/0411/01156.html | title= Rinunce e Nomine, 19.08.2006}} – 18 September 2015){{cite press release | access-date = 14 February 2020 | language = it | date = 18 September 2015| publisher = Holy See Press Office | url = https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2015/09/18/0689/01528.html | title= Rinunce e Nomine, 18.09.2015}}
Guy Consolmagno, SJ (18 September 2015 – present)