The Vatican Observatory Podcast Vatican Observatory

This podcast was taken from the Full Moon Meetup on Friday, January 6, 2023. To begin the year, we had a roundtable discussion with several members of the Vatican Observatory staff. We covered everything from Befana, the Italian Epiphany witch, to the 30th anniversary of the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT),  and the year ahead.

Hosts:
Br. Guy Consolmagno SJ: Director of Vatican Observatory and President of the Vatican Observatory Foundation.
Bob Trembley: Factotum for the Vatican Observatory Foundation.

Guests:
Fr. Paul Gabor: Vice Director of the Vatican Observatory and Vice Director for the Vatican Observatory Research Group (Tucson)
Dr. Larry Lebofsky: Senior Education and Communication Specialist - Planetary Science Institute (retired); Asteroid hunter.
Chris Kennedy: Executive Director of Development for the Vatican Observatory Foundation
Katie Steinke: Development Committee Chair for the Vatican Observatory Foundation

Vatican Observatory website: https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/

Intro music: Irreducible by ComaStudio 

What spurs an artist to start sketching celestial objects as they look in her small telescope? What thrills her the most? Is it seeing the fine details of nebulae through large telescopes? Sketching the Moon's slowly changing terminator and Sun's prominences? Working with children - helping them understand the night sky, and awakening their curiosity in science? 
Deirdre Kelleghan is an astronomical artist, living in western Ireland, under incredibly dark skies. With an eye to the telescope, she sketches the beauty of the cosmos, and through her outreach, she teaches others how to do the same.

Deirdre is a former President of the Irish Astronomical Society, and is the current Outreach / Vice Chair of the Irish Federation of Astronomical Societies; she has been interviewed on TV, radio and podcasts about her outreach activities. She is also a Sacred Space Astronomy author, and frequently posts her artwork on the Vatican Observatory website.

 Guests:
- Deirdre Kelleghan:  Astronomer, astronomical artist, educator and Sacred Space Astronomy author.
- Br. Guy Consolmagno SJ: Director of Vatican Observatory and President of the Vatican Observatory Foundation.

Deirdre 's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@skysketcher1
Deirdre's website: http://www.deirdrekelleghan.net/
Vatican Observatory website: https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/

Intro music: Irreducible by ComaStudio 

So, how many people do you know who have had a children’s book written about them? Dr. Heidi Hammel gained international fame in 1994 by leading the Hubble Space Telescope Team that imaged Jupiter during the impacts of Comet Shoemaker Levy 9, but in fact her main research has focused on the “ice giant” planets, Uranus and Neptune. Her ground-based telescope observations were crucial to interpreting the Voyager spacecraft flyby images, and she now helps direct planetary observations with the Webb Space Telescope. 
Guests:
Dr. Heidi Hammel - Vice President for Science for the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), and an Interdisciplinary Scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope.
- Br. Guy Consolmagno SJ - Director of Vatican Observatory and President of the Vatican Observatory Foundation.

Vatican Observatory website: https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/

Intro music: Irreducible by ComaStudio

Have you ever met one of those people who just seems to know everyone? Our guest, Katie Steinke is one of those people. Katie and her family have been involved with Specola astronomers for decades, and from those deep roots grew the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope. Hear Katie's story...

Guests:
Katie Steinke - former development director of the Vatican Observatory Foundation.
Bob Trembley - podcast host and internet factotum for the Vatican Observatory Foundation.

The most famous product of San Pellegrino, Italy, is its sparkling water. But from this same village in the north of Italy has come a PhD scientist working on detecting the most elusive ingredients of the universe… and hoping for a chance to fly, herself, in space. Hear Dr. Maria Elena Monzani’s story...

Guests:
- Dr. Maria Elena Monzani, a Lead Scientist at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and an adjunct scholar for the Vatican Observatory.
- Br. Guy Consolmagno SJ, Director of Vatican Observatory 
Vatican Observatory website: https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/

Brother Bob Macke SJ is the curator of meteorites at the Vatican Observatory, and during his research measuring meteorite physical properties he has probably handled as many rocks from outer space as anyone alive today. Other astronomers may claim to study stars and planets, but mostly all they touch are photons; Bob has handled actual stuff from space, from stellar dust at Washington University in St. Louis to moon rocks at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. 
Guests: 
- Br. Bob Macke SJ, curator of meteorites at the Vatican Observatory 
- Br. Guy Consolmagno SJ, Director of Vatican Observatory 
Vatican Observatory website: https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/
Macke Makerspace: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-bQglO9a23_blS0yiVMqDA