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Hello everyone. We are at the Vatican Observatory with the man who runs it. This is Brother Guy Consolmagno. And we are where the observatory is located, in the papal summer gardens south of Rome. I've even seen his chickens before, and there's also a helipad here where Pope Francis and Pope Benedict met right after Francis was elected. It's just behind us, over there. Here is a small sign for the observatory. It's in Italian, right? Yes. Specula is an old Italian word for observatory, it has the same root as the word "mirror" but is spelled slightly differently.
Today's video will be dedicated to telescopes, specifically the Vatican telescopes. We will go on a little excursion. We'll get in the car. Let's do this and tell the story of telescopes. Of course. So, the observatory itself is a former monastery. Previously, there were Basilian nuns here. And on the other side there is still a monastery of the Poor Clare sisters. The chronology is strange, because the oldest and youngest telescopes are in domes here, in the gardens, and the two intermediate ones are in the castle.
Let's go to the castle first. It will be a short walk. We'll go in through that front door. Yes. All the tourists will want to follow us. So we'll have to skip back and forth very quickly. Wow. This.this is just incredible. So, now we are on the roof of Castel Gandolfo. This is the summer palace of the Pope. Although he does n't come here anymore. Now it is a museum. There are several telescope domes here. We'll talk about them in a moment. But these aren't the first telescope domes associated with the Vatican, are they? And this is not the first astronomical thing associated with this area. If you look at Monte Cavo, you will notice a notch on the right. At
certain times of the year, when the sun rises, a ray of light passes through this recess and hits this side of the volcanic crater, leaving a long white streak, called Alba Longa in Latin. Alba Longa is traditionally considered the birthplace of Romulus and Remus. So the locals insist that Romulus and Remus set out from here to go down and found the city of Rome. Speaking of Rome, there used to be telescope domes there too, right in the Vatican, right? That's right. Astronomy has been a part of the Vatican since the days of medieval universities. But the modern observatory was founded in 1891 by Pope Leo XIII to show the world that the church supported science, and also to prove that the Vatican had a national observatory since it was a
separate state. And they built telescopes on the walls of the Vatican. In 1929, they finally signed an agreement with Italy, under which the Vatican was officially recognized. This territory was returned to the Vatican. And at that time, Pope Pius XI invited astronomers to leave the city lights of Rome, come here, and build these telescopes. And it was incredibly dark here until the 1980s. Then the light pollution became so bad even here that they built a telescope in Arizona. OK. We'll get to that soon. But first, can we take a look inside one of them? Yes. Let's take a look at this one. You'll notice the sign there, in the sunlight. It's hard to read, but it says "Deum Creatorem" in Latin. God is the creator
. God is the creator. "Come, let us adore." If you know Christmas carols, you understand what this means. " Venite", come, let us worship Him. Come, let us worship God the Creator. Okay, after all, that's why you do astronomy. It won't make you rich. It won't make you famous. She won't help you with girls. It didn't work for me. What it does is bring you closer to understanding the universe and to the creator of that universe. Here we are. OK. I need someone with a strong back and a weak mind who can unlock it. Pull here.
I'm opening this with my bare hands, Brother Guy. This is probably enough to let the light in. This gigantic device is a 1935 Zeiss double astrograph, one of only four in the world. And in fact, these are two telescopes on a common mount. You have two different telescopes for two different types of work. Additionally, in the early 1930s, photographic film was only sensitive to half of the visible spectrum. You either had red film or blue film. So it was possible to take simultaneous pictures: one in the red range, the other in the blue range. If you look closely, you can see that telescopes are actually different. This is a mirror with an eyepiece.
Light comes in, bounces off the mirror, focuses on the second mirror, bounces back, and you can look at it there. This is a large lens that focuses light right here, where you insert the photographic plate. So, those records that I showed you at our headquarters were made right here. It was built in 1935 and was used quite actively until the 1970s. Even after we moved to Castel Gandolfo, events were taking place that were only visible in this part of the world. The occultation of a star by Pluto or the fall of the Shoemaker- Levy comet to Jupiter, where we conducted observations with this telescope, despite light pollution. Let's go here. It was slightly updated, but the engine itself remained original.
Turn on the power. 1, 2, 3, 4. And that's a lot of direct current. Some of them are 110 volts and some are 220, because after the war, Italy switched from 110 to 220 volts. We have a clock that helps us adjust the telescope. You can hear it ticking here. Now that all this is working, we start the engine itself. Stars move across the sky, and to follow them during an exposure, the telescope must move with them. This axis is exactly parallel to the Earth's axis. The Earth rotates in one direction. The stars appear to be moving towards each other. So the telescope follows them. And all this apparatus: the clock, the ticking, and even this amazing contraption. Let 's go here. This rotating vortex-an incredible piece of
1930s technology-is needed to keep the telescope moving at a constant speed. So, brother Guy, right now the telescope is imperceptibly moving with the Earth. That's right. One more thing: since the telescope moves, you need to be able to move with it . We can go up. Oho. And we can move to the left. We can move to the right. And, if necessary, we can rotate the dome to monitor objects in the sky. You have to remember that if you were doing astronomy in the 1930s, you were in this cold room at midnight. It's dark there. You have no idea how high you are. You listen to the hum of the engine, listen to the wind, and try to stay awake all night.
It's amazing that anything was done at all at that time. Who conducted the observations here? Were they priests and monks, or secular astronomers, or. From the very beginning? The observatory was in the hands of the clergy. At first, there were other priests who were invited to work here. In 1905, they invited a Jesuit. The Jesuits are the largest order, and we all tend to be overeducated. In 1930, they decided to turn the entire observatory over to the Jesuit order for maintenance. So today there are about a dozen astronomers working here.
We are all Jesuit priests and brothers. We all belong to the same order, have the same abbot, and live as a community under the same statute. This makes life very convenient. At what point did these domes become unnecessary and you moved to others in this area? Well, these telescopes were in use until the 1970s, but in the 1940s, the Cartesian telescope was first moved from Rome, mostly to protect it during the war. Ironically, this particular area was bombed, while Rome was not. And after the war, the 1950s. And they remained in operation. The last plates appear to date from 1982. So, we'll just take a quick look at the second dome here in Castel
Gandolfo, but there's work going on here right now, scaffolding is up, so we won't get a proper look, but we'll take a sneak peek. So they're working on the dome itself, hence the scaffolding, but you can see the telescope, and it's a completely different design than the other one. It has a 16- inch lens at the front, making it one of the largest It was optimized for observing double stars to make small objects appear large. Most telescopes do not make small objects appear large. They make dim objects bright. This is a bit different from what you would normally expect from a telescope. But if you think about the Andromeda galaxy, I would never be able to see it. You
need a telescope to see it. Truth. The reason you need a telescope is not because it's small. It is actually larger than the moon in the sky, but much dimmer. So you need a large mirror to collect the light and concentrate it on the photographic plate. A big bucket to catch a big bucket of light. That's right. Brother Gaius, what kind of work is being done here on the dome? Well, the wooden crack was opening. This is an amazing example of wooden construction from 1935. But wood has the property of deforming, expanding and contracting. Somehow we opened a gap and couldn't close it. And when it rains, you want to make sure
it's closed. So, we closed it, but we don't dare open it again until it's fixed. Oh, it's good that we were able to peek in here with at least one eye. In any case, pay attention to the date there. 1708 or 28. I'm not sure which. Wonderful door. But whatever it is, they are old. Come on? Good. Rather. Do it faster. So now we're going back through the gardens to where the other two domes are, and we're going to see two more telescopes. OK. As can be seen from the plaque, this alley was built by Pius XII in the first year of his pontificate, i.e. 1939, as a place for walking under cover during the rain. This was built 2 years later, initially right on this side.
Come in. We are under the dome of the Carte du Ciel Yes. And the two telescopes in this building now are the KTL, which dates back to 1891, and the Schmidt telescope from the 1950s. Both of them were used for photography. These are both photographic cameras. And where we are standing now, there used to be a photo lab. You had to have a photo lab to prepare the photographic plates before carrying them upstairs. And there was a toilet there. One day Father McCarthy was working in the laboratory when he saw the door open, someone outside, and he shouted, "Shut the door! Who the hell are you?" And the voice on the other end: "Excuse me, I'm just looking for the toilet."
Pope Paul VI. When necessary, then necessary. When you walk through here, you will see why this place was built. Oho. Remember that 1891 telescope for photographing the sky, the Carte du Ciel? This is the same telescope. Okay, Brother Guy, before we talk about him, can we open him up so James has more light? Of course. Here we have a modern engine. So oh, look. He is beautiful. Oh, wow. The actual motor that powers the telescope is not original. It dates back to 1936. This is a photograph of a telescope from around 1900, where Father Leys is making observations. Those wooden stairs-they are the same wooden stairs. This telescope
is the same telescope. Over the past 120 years, it has been painted white. This watch is the same watch. And that man's beard is here too. So, Brother Guy, this is called the Carte du Ciel telescope. Why is it called that? What is this all about? Around 1880, someone took a photograph of a comet using a telescope. A truly fascinating thing. And then they noticed that in the background of the photograph, you could see stars up to seventh, eighth, or ninth magnitude. And someone had an idea: why do n't we photograph the entire sky to finally measure the positions of the faint stars? It was such a large-scale project that no observatory could handle it alone. So they opened it to all the national observatories of the world, and
the Vatican wanted it to be recognized as a state. So they said, "Write us down too." Everyone bought the same telescopes. It's actually two telescopes. There is a smaller lens, this size, that you are looking into. This is an eyepiece. And then a larger lens, about 12 to 15 inches in diameter, that directs the light to here, where you mount the photographic plate. So, you aim the telescope with your eye to make sure it's in the right place. Yes. And then you take the photographic plate, make an exposure, move it to the next point, make an exposure. And it took about 25 years to do all these different exposures because you wanted to be
able to go back and fix and change and adjust. They wanted the telescope to remain operational and working. By 1929, light pollution in Rome made it impossible to use this telescope in the city. So in 1942 it was transported here, to Castel Gandolfo, and the final shots were taken; some of them were created as late as the 1970s. Here is the shutter. So, as soon as the record is installed by MGM. exhibited, and then, of course, it was all powered by an engine, but there were no electric engines in the 1890s . So they had a clockwork mechanism and a falling weight that actually went through the support that held that end of the telescope. The current electric motor was installed last year. This telescope is a fully functional, absolutely beautiful
piece of engineering. I observed it with his help two days ago, looking at the Moon. It is actually controlled by a small laptop and the telescope itself. Here's what we use. Is this an original from the 1800s? It should be 18.Yes. A car from 1890. There 's a great gear system here, and you just slide it out so you can move the telescope however you want, and when it's in the right position, you just slide it back in Can I move the entire telescope manually? Oh, look at this power. Yes. When you remove the lens cap, it is fully balanced and can be moved with one finger.
It really makes such a big difference. Aha. Look at this. Oh, this is the best thing ever. And when you're ready, you fix it, and that's it- it's in place. Now he won't move anywhere. I should close the dome so we don't get wet from the rain. So, this second dome was completed later. Yes. Really. Because by the 1950s, a new way of photographing the sky had emerged. And from about 1960 to 1982, it was the number one telescope.
This is a type of telescope called a Schmidt telescope. And it is an amazing and wonderful design. At the top is a huge, bizarrely shaped plate that scatters light, directing it onto a spherical mirror, which then focuses the light. If you look, there is a small round door with a handle. They are barely noticeable on the gray part. You opened them, took one of the glass plates and inserted it into a holder that was slightly curved so that the image was clear across the entire field of view, and you could photograph a large area of the sky at once. Astronomy changed with the arrival of Angelo Secchi in the 1870s, a great Jesuit astronomer who stopped asking where the stars were in the sky and started asking what they were. To study this, you need to
know spectra. You have to take the light from each star, break it down into a spectrum-from red at one end to blue at the other-and see what colors are missing. And this shows what metals are present in the star. How do you take light from a telescope and turn it into a spectrum? You need to direct this light through a prism. Let me show you. Come on, follow me upstairs. Good. Unfortunately, this thing weighs a whole ton. I can't pull it out. This is a huge glass prism that is mounted on the end of the telescope. So you literally put it on the working end, not. On the working end, not where the photographic plate is. You
put it on before the light gets inside. And then each star on the plate turns into a small spectrum. Ha? And thanks to this method, it was possible to photograph the spectrum of hundreds of stars simultaneously. These things are so heavy. We're not quite sure how to get them out so people can look at them We'll figure something out. I've been going to the gym a little bit lately. Do you want me to.Do you want me to pump up my biceps? Don't break your arm. Let's leave that for later. Good. It was, as I said, a telescope that was, you know, the best from the 1960s to the 1980s Well, as you know, the Pope spends his summers here in Castel Gandolfo. Let's go down. It so happened that
in the summer of 1969, specifically on the night of July 20, 1969, Pope Paul came to visit the telescope. So, he's sitting almost where you're standing. You're sitting right where I'm standing, looking at a television screen that must have been here somewhere, watching the Apollo 11 moon landing. So the Pope watched the first moon landing right here, and into that microphone he recorded a message to the astronauts, actually congratulating them and, of course, telling them that all our prayers are with them. This is Paul VI watching the moon landing on TV almost where you are standing, James. That's right.
Surprisingly. So, it's him again that same night. I said it was.it was a camera. How can he look through a telescope if it's just a camera? He is not looking through a telescope. He looks into the viewfinder. Of course. The other photo we have there is of Pope Pius XII, and he was the one who paid for this telescope, which was built in 1957-58, and he died at the end of 1958. So he lived long enough to see the telescope installed. He loved astronomy. Do you think if you didn't have a Pope at the time, who was a bit of an astronomy fan, would it have been harder to get funding for this telescope?
Oh, that would be impossible to finance because it's a very expensive telescope, right? The church did not pay for this telescope. His personal family fortune paid for this telescope. Dad bought us this telescope himself. So, this is the Papal Telescope. Now, of course, you mentioned that it got too bright in Rome. You couldn't keep your telescopes there anymore. Eventually, here in Castel Gandolfo, it also became too bright, and now these telescopes are a kind of museum exhibits and tourist attractions. What are you currently using as an observatory for your real serious science? Our first idea was to simply move to Tucson, Arizona, where we had contacts. They have telescopes on every mountain around Tucson, and we could just borrow any telescope we needed.
After we settled in Tucson for a couple of years, a telescope engineer named Roger Angel invented a new way to make telescope mirrors. If you melt glass and place it in a rotating furnace, it will take on the shape of a parabola. He got enough money to make one such mirror, and it worked. He came to the Vatican Observatory and said, "If you build a telescope around this mirror, we can install it here in Tucson." This is the same telescope that we use to this day, the Vatican's technologically advanced telescope. And not only does it work great, we can also say that the Pope has a telescope made by an angel, because his name was Roger Angel.
Very cute. So, the Vatican's official working telescope is now in Arizona. Located in Arizona. We have a small house in the city where people live, and the person who uses the telescope goes in a jeep to the top of the mountain, works there for four or five days, comes back, and the next person goes to use it But the observatory itself is still here, not far from Rome. The observatory is the institution where our libraries are located, where our computers for data processing are located, where we meet and where we invite other people. There's much more going on here than just observing through a telescope. If
you want to learn more from Brother Guy, the Pope's astronomer, we have a video on Objectivity, about these papal space rocks, clocks, and also some of those Cartel plates. We also have an extended interview with Brother Guy on our 60 symbols channel. The link is on the screen and in the description under the video. And if you want more telescope tours, we have plenty of them on the Deep Sky Videos channel.
