Organizations, People and Strategies in Astronomy 2 (OPSA 2), 217-230 Ed. A. Heck, © 2013 Venngeist. THE SPECOLA VATICANA: ASTRONOMY AT THE VATICAN GUY CONSOLMAGNO AND CHRISTOPHER CORBALLY Specola Vaticana V-00120, Vatican City State
[email protected] [email protected] Abstract. The Vatican is an independent nation, with its own national astronomical observatory, the Specola Vaticana (Vatican Observatory). As- tronomy has been supported at the Vatican since the 1582 reform of the calendar; the present-day Observatory has been in operation since 1891. The work of the observatory is divided between two sites, one in the pa- pal summer gardens south of Rome, Italy, and the other affiliated with the Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona, in Tucson, Arizona, USA. Research undertaken by current staff members ranges from cosmol- ogy and the study of galactic evolution to meteoritics and meteors. Given the stable funding provided by the Vatican, the Observatory has specialized in long-term mapping and cataloguing projects that would be difficult to mount under a traditional three-year funding cycle. These have included participation in the Carte du Ciel photographic map of the sky; the at- lases of spectra produced by its Spectrochemical Laboratory; surveys of star clusters and peculiar stars; and the cataloguing of meteorite physical properties. 1. Astronomy in the Holy See Before 1891 To the Christian church, the study of creation has long been supported as an act of worshipping the Creator. Astronomy was one of the seven subjects that made up the curriculum of the medieval universities, which were themselves founded by the Church.