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VATICAN NEWSLETTER Fall 2015 embracing, encouraging and promoting scientific study

Photo Credit: Paul Mattek - Design Fugitives

COSMIC ECCLESIASTICAL BALDACCHINO ARTICLE ON PAGE 6

Founded in 1891, the demonstrates the Church’s desire to embrace, encourage and promote scientific study, Brother , S.J. on the basis of her conviction that ‘faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of Director, Vatican Observatory truth’ (Fides et Ratio, Proemium). For more information, email ([email protected]) or call (+1 (520) 795-1694). President, Vatican Observatory Foundation VATICAN OBSERVATORY FOUNDATION Page 2

President’sby Br. Guy Consolmagno, S.J.Message

Pope Francis congratulates Br. Guy The Directors. Francis thanks Fr. Jose Funes. Photo Credits: Osservatore Romano

On September 29, 1935, Pope Pius in Tucson. That’s not because the folks predecessors have put together. My task XI dedicated our new quarters and in Tucson haven’t been doing their job, will mostly be to get out of their way and telescopes in the Pope’s summer palace but rather because they’ve been doing let them fly. And that includes everyone in . To celebrate the it very well indeed. As a result, we now who considers themselves a friend of 80 years since that dedication, on the have a telescope that is constantly being the Observatory: everyone reading this week of September 14-18, 2015 the improved and constantly more heavily newsletter! You should know that all the members of the Vatican Observatory subscribed, and therefore one that needs good thoughts and best wishes I have held a symposium in Castel Gandolfo, an ever more stable and secure source of received from everyone have meant a including a visit to the old domes that annual funding. So, I plan to spend the great deal to me. Pius XI had dedicated so long ago. majority of the coming year in the US. The active involvement of the We finished on Friday with a private There are two linked reasons for in our work during all those years, down audience in with – this. First, I have always been sensitive to Pope Francis receiving us this month, just before his US trip. After giving us to the fact that when Pope Leo XIII should remind us of the weight of history a short address, the Pope looked up and founded the observatory (in 1891) he in the work you and I are doing, and the saw me. He smiled and said, “Ah! The stated that it was so that the world could importance that the Papacy attaches to New Director!” clearly see that the Church supported our work. Remember, this Observatory It’s true. I am the new director of the good . Doing good science is, was the Pope’s idea, not ours! Vatican Observatory. (I actually didn’t obviously essential for that; otherwise But beyond that, I hope that all completely believe it until I heard him we have nothing to show. But the the events we put on, and the future say it.) I am now stepping into Fr. Funes’ “showing” is also essential. We’ve done events we describe in this newsletter, position, an awesome responsibility… that in an ad-hoc way for the past 20 reflects another quality that motivates and a tough act to follow. years, at least. I am trying to organize everything we do in : a sense What will my new position mean for a more systematic approach to our of joy. The stars are glorious, and it’s Vatican Observatory Foundation? The education and public outreach. The a treat to be engaged in their study… honest answer is, I don’t know yet. I’ve Foundation is the obvious vehicle for because, their glory proclaims the Glory only just moved into my new office; ask that effort. of their Creator. me again in the spring! But you should But, in addition, if we want to have know that I will continue as President stable funding for our Observatory in Astronomy is a joyful profession. of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. the US, it also has to come through the And I intend to have fun at this job. In fact, my immediate feeling is that Foundation. the Observatory is in pretty good shape I’m looking forward to working with in Rome but we need a lot of attention the incredible staff and facilities that my Fall 2015 Page 3 Reaching for the Heavens 2015 Student Astrophotography Project Loyola High School,

Using the sensitive science-grade Los Angeles, Field electronic camera on our 1.8 m telescope Trip to Tucson (VATT), last march Fr. Richard Boyle SJ provided raw data for a unique project March 2015 allowing students at our partner Jesuit high schools in Los Angeles and San Loyola students took part in the Francisco to learn first hand how to Astrophotography Project but were process and assemble professional-grade also thrilled to spend two days astronomy images. in Tucson learning more about The students determined what astronomy up close. Their teacher, deep sky object for him to image. They Andrey Aristov, took them to did the research to find a suitable the mirror lab under the football object — something that was more stadium at The University of than 20 degrees above the horizon at where the VATT mirror the established time, but more than ten was made long ago and many key degrees away from the zenith, and an mirrors are made today. Fr. Paul object that was not too bright, not too Gabor gave them a tour of Steward big. Observatory on the UA campus The object could not be too where the Vatican Observatory bright, less than fifth magnitude i.e. color image — which became their Research Group has their offices. not the Moon or a visible planet, since souvenirs of the astronomy class! The group then went on to see the that would have swamped the CCD Ethan Vedder, Astronomy teacher, numerous telescopes on Kitt Peak chip. Nor could it be too big. The total St. Ignatius Prep, San Francisco: and did some hands-on observing field of view of the camera is 12.5 arc “I thought it was really interesting to at the SkyCenter on Mt. Lemmon. minutes square, but nothing much larger see how different the student images were than 8 arc minutes by 8 arc minutes was from each other when we all started with recommended to be certain that it fit the same exact raw data. It shows a deeper in the field of view of the camera. On level of what scientists and technicians do the other hand, objects less than an arc to represent data in a meaningful and still minute across may not show up very authentic way to their audience. well. So, for example, assuming it were Our students were new to working visible, the Andromeda Galaxy would with file and image data and with photoshop, have been too big to fit in the field of but from the start they were excited to view, while Neptune would probably have so much control over their work. have been too small to make a nice They researched several appropriate night image. sky objects, they picked M99 as the object Once the object was chosen the to be photographed, they manipulated the students sent the coordinates (RA and data and the filters, and they produced a Dec) to Fr. Boyle. He took three digital variety of images as final productions. I images, in red, green, and blue filters, felt really rewarded as a teacher as I saw did the basic flat-fielding to remove the the students progressing with the process, chip flaws, and sent the students raw and then I could literally hear them get images. The students then determined excited about producing their final image. how to combine the images into a full I would do this again in a heartbeat.” VATICAN OBSERVATORY FOUNDATION Page 4 “An Amazing Experience” Fr. William Holtzinger • Pastor, St. Anne • Grants Pass, Oregon

included methods on teaching the constellations to children as well as the philosophy of science in an age of “new atheists”. Br. Guy gave a talk on the current issue of physics, metaphysics, and cosmology and explained how science and faith Last summer, an invitation went out collaborate in the search for the today’s culture. We need to enter into to the dioceses of the Truth. One asks how things happen the cultural debate and help assist in to join the Vatican Observatory (physics and astronomy) and the the quest for the Truth. Foundation for a five-day workshop other asks what meaning do they For an astronomy geek like me, on faith and astronomy for priests and have ( and philosophy). it was an amazing experience. I Catholic educators. This was their The Faith and Astronomy look forward to sharing the work first time offering such a workshop. Workshop will be held again, of the Vatican Observatory in my Among the 60 who applied, 25 were beginning on January 16, 2016. We preaching and other public speaking accepted, including myself. As an need to encourage more clergy opportunities. It was truly a thrill amateur astronomer, this was a once- and Catholic educators to take to be able to meet Catholics doing in-a-lifetime opportunity. So in late advantage of this new opportunity serious astronomy and spend time January, I packed my bags and headed being offered by our Church. We, as with clergy and laity who are to Tucson, AZ. That’s right, Tucson, Catholics, need to truly understand passionate about this science. not the Vatican. the theological, philosophical, and Lecture topics we heard scientific fields being discussed in

What can modern astronomy tell us about creation...and its CREATOR? and Astronomy Workshop FaithJanuary 11 - 15, 2016 Please consider supporting the men and women participating in the workshop. The cost of attending is $750. Donations to help provide scholarships for very deserving candidates would be truly appreciated. Thank you! Fall 2015 Page 5 Reaching for the Heavens Matter and Energy: 100 Years of General Relativity Gabriele Gionti, S.J., Ph.D.

Article originally published in part by the intended to celebrate both occurrences. presentations were those dealing with Osservatore Romano on July 29, 2015. Among the notable researchers present the results from the European Space were the mathematician Yakov Sinai, Agency’s Planck satellite, which When Einstein’s Theory of General the expert in chaos theory; cosmologist measured the Cosmic Microwave Relativity began to be understood not Stephen Hawking, who gave a public Background Radiation (C.M.B.). This simply as a theory with an intrinsic seminar remotely from Cambridge; radiation is the first light of the universe; mathematical beauty but as something the astrophysicist Sir Martin Rees of it confirms that the Big Bang model, that could be applied successfully Cambridge University; the physics while providing information on the to describe compact objects such as theorist and Nobel Prize recipient distribution of material in the universe, neutron stars and black holes, relativistic Gerard ‘t Hooft, and the experimental including Dark Matter and Dark Energy, astrophysics was born. physicist and Nobel Prize recipient is the most credible. Also discussed at the General Relativity describes the Samuel Ting. Opening the meeting meeting were gamma ray bursts, which universe close to the beginning of Fr. Jose’ G. Funes, S.J., Director of the are energy emissions of gamma rays that, time (t=0). But “time zero” itself is a Vatican Observatory, read a message of according to most recent theories, take “singularity”: many quantities that are greeting from Pope Francis. place in the expanding disks around basic elements of the theory no longer The discussion also touched on black holes; and cosmic rays, highly have a meaning that can be described critical questions like Dark Matter and energized particles from space. by the theory. Dark Energy. Dark Matter is an invisible The tradition of the Marcel Close to that moment, in what is material forming almost 27% of the total Grossman Meeting began in 1975 under called Planck time, it has been proposed material in our universe that has been the initiative and constant direction of that gravity could be described through postulated in order to explain the orbital Professor Remo Ruffini of the Physics Quantum Mechanics into what has velocities of stars in galaxies, which Department at La Sapienza University been called quantum gravity. Two otherwise would not obey Kepler’s and president of ICRA. The meeting is theories moving in this direction are orbital laws. The nature of this material named in memory of the mathematician Superstring Theory and Loop Quantum is not yet known, and in fact the Large Marcel Grossman, a friend of Albert Gravity theory. Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva Einstein who helped him understand the These and other questions were is being used to explore possible aspects importance of the “Absolute Calculus” discussed by 1200 researchers from of this dark matter. Dark Energy, which of Riemann and the results of Tullio around the globe who participated in appears to represent about 68% of the Levi-Civita and Ricci Cubastro as a the 14th Marcel Grossman Meeting universe’s material (matter and energy mathematical presupposition for the on relativistic astrophysics, held at La are equivalent concepts according to formulation of the Theory of General Sapienza University in Rome from July the relativity of Einstein), has been Relativity. 12-18. The Vatican Observatory took an introduced to explain the observed Fr. Gabriele Gionti, S.J., represented active part in the meeting, which was acceleration of our expanding universe. the Vatican Observatory on the meeting’s organized by the International Center Like Dark Matter, Dark Energy is an local organizing committee. During the for Relativistic Astrophysics (ICRA). energy that cannot be detected directly. week-long gathering Fr. Gionti, with This year marks the 100th It is believed that its nature is connected Professor Salvatore Capozziello of the anniversary of the discovery of to a fundamental interaction of matter University of Naples, also coordinated Einstein’s General Relativity equation and energy called “zero point energy” “one parallel session” on the “Alternative and UNESCO’s declaration of the Year that probably appeared immediately Theories of General Relativity and of Light. Therefore, the theme of the after the Big Bang. Quantistic Cosmology” with seventy-four 14th Marcel Grossman Meeting was Among the most interesting presenters. VATICAN OBSERVATORY FOUNDATION Page 6 Eyewitness to Pluto By William S. Higgins - The Catholic Astronomer Blog Contributor

Br. Guy, Connie and Bob Trembley, and Bill Higgins at Musecon 2015. Bob And Bill both write for the VOF blog.

In July, as NASA’s New Horizons time to transmit the data in the months knowing whether the flyby had been spacecraft neared its climactic encounter following the flyby. a success. Late in the afternoon, the with Pluto, its human crew gathered at During Monday, nevertheless, a spacecraft antenna pointed briefly back Johns Hopkins University’s Applied few key “insurance” observations were at Earth. The plan was to send a squirt Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, transmitted. In case of failure during or of status data for a few minutes. Maryland. Furthermore, 1000 invited just after the flyby, we’d have a few precious Moving at the speed of light, this guests filled APL’s conference center. pictures and spectra to tell us something signal would reach Earth much later, at I was there, too. I’d volunteered to about Pluto and its neighborhood. 8:52 PM Laurel time. The crowd watched drive out from Illinois to assist a group Tuesday dawned. The 14th of July a NASA TV feed. Had the spacecraft of New Horizons Educator Fellows from was the day the people of the New functioned? across the nation. Horizons project had been anticipating The scene cut to the New Horizons Monday, 13 July, had a few scientific for years. Even though there would be operations center in another building. results to report. Nitrogen detected far no signal from the spacecraft for many “Carrier lock” had been achieved. from Pluto’s; a new, more accurate value hours, the potent moment of closest This brought relieved applause! Then for the radius of Pluto; ice confirmed at approach, 7:50 AM, featured cheering engineers confirmed seeing good the dark north polar zone on Charon, and flag-waving. telemetry from several systems. All was Pluto’s largest moon. In Tuesday morning’s briefing, we well. Much of Monday’s briefing saw an “insurance” image, gathered on Time for another media briefing concerned Tuesday. “Between this time Monday, that would become iconic: The in the auditorium. Black-shirted team now and closest approach tomorrow, sunlit hemisphere of Pluto, in detail. The members, having walked over en masse the spacecraft will be taking about 150 surface was far from uniform: Rugged from Building 200, were cheered like observations,” said Cathy Olkin, of the terrain in the dark belt around the champion athletes. It took a while to Southwest Research Institute, deputy equator. Cliffs, perhaps signs of erosion, settle down. project scientist for New Horizons. running across the northern hemisphere. We learned that the “expected As a consequence, the spacecraft Smooth plains in the vast, pale heart- number of segments” had been filled in would fall silent Monday night. Pointing shaped region. Craters were few, the memory—all data safely on board. instruments this way and that, as the suggesting that the surface has changed As it receded from Pluto and Charon, of spacecraft covered Pluto, Charon, the in geologically-recent time. course, New Horizons was still observing. smaller moons, and the space between, It was too soon to draw many It’ll take 16 months to transmit left no time to pause and point the high- conclusions, but the varied landscape everything to the ground. Yet even the gain dish antenna at Earth—especially made one thing abundantly clear: Pluto small sample downlinked in the next during the crucial hours near closest is not boring. Which made everyone few days was enough for a revolution approach. Instead the plan was to record even more glad that the United States in the understanding of Pluto and all data in New Horizons’ onboard had sent a probe to visit. Charon, unexpectedly active and varied memory. There would be plenty of We spent Tuesday in suspense, not (continued on page 7) Fall 2015 Page 7 Reaching for the Heavens Cosmic Baldacchino 2016 Official Vatican Observatory Calendar Now Available!

Calendars may be purchased for $25 each or $20 each for bulk orders of 4 or more. The VOF is happy to mail calendars to gift recipients for you if the names and addresses are indicated. WAYS TO PLACE AN ORDER: Photo Credits: Paul Mattek - Design Fugitives • Visit the Vatican Observatory Brother Guy Consolmagno was involved and the space. The Baldacchino recalls Foundation website: as a consultant on this award winning the tent that protected the Ark of the www.vofoundation.org, click on sculpture designed for the Church of Covenant as it moved with the Israelites the Donate button and choose the St. Mary Magdalen in Grand Rapids, through the desert. Here the baldacchino Guild Membership option from the . The altar piece includes a is placed over the tabernacle. The menu. dome and constellations. As explained by patterning of the metal mesh resembles • Use the enclosed envelope and pay the designers, “The idea behind the pieces a field of wheat which the wind (the by check or credit card. All and pattern was to show the spiritual Holy Spirit) animates. In the dome of the appropriate areas must be impact of the Mass celebration beyond baldacchino is an image of the night sky completed. the physical boundaries of the elements on the eve of dedication (June 8, 2014).” • You may also mail a check made out to Vatican Observatory Now You Know Media Lecture Series Foundation indicating that your Enjoy lectures by Br. Guy Consolmagno, S.J., gift is to become a Guild Member and receive your calendar. available in video DVD, audio CD, and downloadable MP3 formats. Please remember to include your Galileo: Science, Faith, and the Catholic Church return address. Meaning: Exploring the Big Questions of the Cosmos with a Vatican Scientist Vatican Observatory Foundation To join Br. Guy on one of these 12 audio and video lectures go to: 2017 East Lee Street www.nowyouknowmedia.com Tucson, AZ 85719 VOF friends can use the code Guy to obtain a 10% discount.

(continued from page 6) interplanetary dust. William S. Higgins is a radiation bodies. Expect further news from Pluto’s 2000 people showed up for safety physicist at Fermilab involved with neighborhood for months to come. “Plutopalooza,” a rousing success. the transport of high-energy particle beams. Beginning Wednesday, the team Meanwhile, the spacecraft He frequently writes and speaks about of Educator Fellows went to work continues. A small Kuiper Belt object is spaceflight, astronomy, and the history of creating educational “stations” for a within its reach; there’s hope that New science. A graduate of Notre Dame, he lives public event on Saturday. My table, for Horizons will make another flyby in 2019. in Aurora, Illinois. example, covered the measurement of I can hardly wait. Non Profit Org VATICAN OBSERVATORY NON PROFIT ORG F O U N D A T I O N U.S POSTAGE 2017 East Lee Street PAID TUCSON, AZ OR Tucson, Arizona 85719 PERMIT NO. 3341

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a. Upper right corner of the mailpiece. b. Upper right corner of the address area. c. To the right of the address on an address label. d. To the right of the address on an insert appearing through a window envelope. INSIDE  Papal Appointment  General Relativity  Pluto

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