The Vatican Observatory Podcast
The Vatican Observatory is one of the oldest and most accomplished observatories in the world… which surprises people who have limited understanding of Church and science. In this podcast, you’ll hear from Vatican astronomers and their accomplished special guests as they explore the wonder of God’s surprising universe.
Episodes
25 episodes
An Anthropologist at the Vatican Observatory
Br. Guy Consolmagno chats with Dr. Deana L. Weibel - a cultural anthropologist whose work focuses primarily on religion, especially the topics of pilgrimage, sacred space, the mutual influence of scientific and religious ideas on each other, an...
•
Season 5
•
Episode 1
•
32:11
Steeped in Science
Br. Guy Consolmagno chats with Dr. Michelle Francl about her book Steeped: The Chemistry of Tea, which explores the chemistry behind different styles of tea. The book caused quite a stir with various international news agencies - and a vi...
•
Season 4
•
Episode 2
•
47:14
Man on a Mission (or two)
Br. Guy Consolmagno chats with Br. Bob Macke about being a team member of two asteroid missions: the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission, and the
•
Season 4
•
Episode 1
•
30:23
From Humble Beginnings
Br. Guy Consolmagno chats with Charles F. Bolden Jr. during the 30th anniversary celebration of 'first light' into the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope.Hosts:Br. Guy Consolmagno SJ: Director of Vatican Observatory and Pr...
•
Season 3
•
Episode 4
•
39:49
My Time at the Vatican Observatory Summer School
Matthew Pinson SJ is a young Jesuit scientist from Australia. He was one of the students at the 2023 Vatican Observatory Summer School held in Rome during June. Hear what it was like to be a student at the school, and how Matthew’s journey took...
•
Season 3
•
Episode 3
•
39:24
Roundtable with Vatican Observatory Staff
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,...
•
Season 3
•
Episode 2
•
37:26
Sketcher of the Skies
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...
•
Season 3
•
Episode 1
•
40:04
From Voyager to Webb: Heidi Hammel and the Ice Giants
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, b...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 7
•
47:39
Deep Roots
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 gr...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 6
•
37:34
From Sparkling Water to Dark Matter
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 fl...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 5
•
38:46
The Stuff of Stars
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 cl...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 4
•
32:54
Ambassador to the Universe
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 ...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 3
•
36:22
On a Spiral Path to the Milky Way
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 he...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 2
•
31:36
The Chaotic Path of a Climate Modeler
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 keep...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 1
•
27:08
A Taste for Heavy Water
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 fi...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 11
•
32:45
How to Make an Impact: From Crater Science to Public Outreach
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 ...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 10
•
32:57
Space and the Middle-Schooler
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 ast...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 9
•
31:20
Black Holes
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 Lig...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 8
•
30:57
.jpg)
On the Fly - How to drive a spacecraft
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)...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 7
•
28:02
Galileo: The Real Story (Part 2)
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 an...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 6
•
20:43
Galileo: The Real Story
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 st...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 5
•
24:02
The Vatican’s Interest in Space Exploration?
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...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 4
•
24:33
Living on the Moon: Why and how?
U.S. astronaut Nicole Stott and her husband Christopher Stott of the International Institute of Space Commerce explore with Br. Guy what living on (or in) the Moon would look like. Where’s the best spot for a Moon base? And when we can expect M...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 3
•
29:09
Death by Meteorite: What are the chances?
In this inaugural episode, world-renowned Vatican astronomer Br. Guy Consalmagno, SJ sits down with Dr. Larry Lebofsky, a planetary astronomer specializing in small solar system bodies, to discuss the chances a meteorite will end life on Earth,...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 2
•
21:53
Science Fiction: What it gets right and wrong
Where do you draw the line between space fact and space fiction? In this episode, Br. Guy and Dr. Larry Lebofsky of the Planetary Science Institute examine what the genre gets right and how science fiction has influenced real-life space program...
•
Season 1
•
Episode 1
•
18:30
