The Vatican Observatory Podcast

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

Meet Bill Higgins. By day, he's one of the scientists who keeps the Fermilab National Accelerator running safe, as it pummels the smallest particles in the universe. But in his free time he’s a techie storyteller of big things and big ideas: a NASA Solar System Ambassador, a researcher of esoteric technology from rocket belts to Jacquard looms, and an explorer of how we tell the story of our scientific society.Guests:Bill Higgins: Radiation Safety Physicist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab)Br. Guy Consolmagno SJ: Director of Vatican Observatory, President of the Vatican Observatory Foundation.Read Bill's "From the cabinet of physics" series on the Vatican Observatory website:https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/series/from-the-cabinet-of-physics/Sacred Space Astronomy Posts on the Vatican Observatory Website:https://www.vaticanobservatory.org/category/sacred-space-astronomy/

When she was a young girl growing up in southern Chile, Gabriela Navarro had many dreams… from being a volleyball player to being an astronaut. In this podcast, we'll follow the spiral path of now-Doctor Navarro that has brought her to studying the structure and formation of the Milky Way and its galactic bulge with the James Webb Space Telescope in Rome… via the 2018 Vatican Observatory Summer School (VOSS), and the 2019 SuperVOSS (which she helped organize!)Guests:Dr. Gabriela NavarroBr. Guy Consolmagno SJ, Director of Vatican Observatory, President of the Vatican Observatory Foundation.

How does a young Indonesian boy from a half Muslim, half Christian family wind up as a Jesuit scientist-priest in Arizona, modeling the tropical climates of northern Mexico and Saudi Arabia, while celebrating Mass for Native Americans… and keeping his fellow Jesuits well fed with his cooking skills? Meet Fr. Christoforus Bayu Risanto! Dr. Bayu defended his doctorate in meteorology at the University of Arizona last fall, where he's now continuing his research as a postdoctoral fellow.Guests:Fr. Christoforus Bayu Risanto SJBr. Guy Consolmagno SJ, Director of Vatican Observatory, President of the Vatican Observatory Foundation.

Dr. Michelle Francl puts her own twist on combinations that most people might think are impossible. In this podcast she tells Br Guy Consolmagno about how the Sisters of Loreto in the small town where she grew up encouraged a love of science fiction that eventually led to her to a PhD with Nobel Laureate F. Sherwood Roland; about heavy-duty computational quantum chemistry and the taste of heavy water; about her articles for Nature Chemistry and for the Liturgical Press.Guests:Dr. Michelle Francl, professor of Chemistry at Bryn Mawr College and Adjunct Scholar of the Vatican ObservatoryBr. Guy Consolmagno, Director of Vatican Observatory

Prof. Dr. Christian Koeberl has had a fascinating career in planetary sciences. An expert in how planetary impacts make craters, he served for ten years as the director of the Natural History Museum of Vienna, one of the most important natural history museums in Europe.Today, Dr. Koeberl is the Chair in Impact Research and Planetary Geology at the University of Vienna.In this episode of the Vatican Observatory podcast, Dr. Koeberl joins Br. Guy Consolmagno, Director of the Vatican Observatory, and host Bob Trembley to discuss the wide dimensions of his work, from impact craters, to meteorite strikes, to the public understanding of natural history.Guests:Christian Koeberl, former director of the Natural History Museum of Vienna.Br. Guy Consolmagno, Director of Vatican Observatory

What do kids today think about astronomy and space travel? And how do they think differently about these topics compared to kids 40 years ago? In this episode of the Vatican Observatory podcast, longtime middle school astronomy teacher Constance Martin-Trembley joins Br. Guy Consolmagno, Director of the Vatican Observatory, and host Bob Trembley to discuss the changing landscape of astronomy youth education.Guests:Constance Martin-Trembley, Middle School Science TeacherBr. Guy Consolmagno, Director of Vatican Observatory

On this episode of the Vatican Observatory Podcast, a pioneer in black hole imaging, Prof. Dr. Heino Falcke joins Br. Guy Consolmagno, Director of the Vatican Observatory, and host Bob Trembley for a conversation to discuss his new book Light in the Darkness: Black Holes, the Universe, and Us, his trailblazing work on black hole imaging, and the intersection of faith and science.Dr. Falcke is a professor of radio astronomy and astroparticle physics at the Radboud University Nijmegen, as well as the winner of the 2011 Spinoza Prize. Famously, he is known as the originator of the concept of the 'black hole shadow'. Guests:Heino Falcke, Br. Guy Consolmagno, Director of Vatican ObservatoryLink: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opfb0ieCcSs 

How does a spacecraft get designed and built? How do you maneuver a spacecraft to make sure it gets where it’s going? What’s it mean to work on “Mars time”? In this episode, Steve Collins, Senior Engineer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), joins Bob Trembley and Br. Guy Consolmagno to answer these questions and more about what it takes to create a spacecraft that can go where humans can’t. Guests:Steve Collins, Senior Engineer, Jet Propulsion LaboratoryBr. Guy Consolmagno, Director of Vatican Observatory

Galileo was not only a great scientist, but a great philosopher of science. And yet, he was a man who sometimes contradicted his own philosophy. In this episode, Br. Guy and Chris Graney continue their discussion of the real story of Galileo and how science and history textbooks alike often get it wrong. Guests:Chris Graney, historian of 17th century science and Public Relations Officer of Vatican Observatory FoundationBr. Guy Consolmagno, Director of Vatican Observatory

Galileo's championing of Copernican heliocentrism led to two encounters with the Church: an informal meeting with Cardinal Bellarmine in 1616 and a formal trial in 1633. It’s a muddled piece of history which has caused many people to falsely stake the claim that the Church is an enemy of science. In this episode, Br. Guy and Chris Graney discuss the real story of Galileo’s relationship with the Church.Guests:- Chris Graney, historian of 17th century science and Public Relations Officer of Vatican Observatory Foundation- Br. Guy Consolmagno, Director of Vatican Observatory

Why is the Vatican interested in space and how is it actively contributing to space exploration? In this podcast, Br. Guy explains some of the biggest moments in the Observatory’s history in space and talks about the space missions where the VO is making a contribution. He is joined by Dr. Daniel Britt, the Pegasus Professor of Astronomy and Planetary Sciences at University of Central Florida, and Br. Bob Macke, curator of the Vatican Observatory’s meteorite collection.Guests:- Br. Guy Consolmagno - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Consolmagno- Daniel Britt - https://sciences.ucf.edu/physics/person/daniel-britt/- Br Bob Macke