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  • WHERE I WORK

Serving science and the Church as the Pope’s astronomer

Around 100 active scientists have collaborated with the Vatican Observatory, says Brother Guy Consolmagno, its director.
  1. Chris Woolston

    1. Chris Woolston is a freelance writer in Billings, Montana.

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Brother Guy Consolmagno, astronomer and director of the Specola Vaticana, looking through the Vatican’s historic telescope.

Brother Guy Consolmagno is director of the Vatican Observatory and president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. Credit: Francesco Pistilli for Nature

I spend a lot of time looking upwards. Here, at Castel Gandolfo, outside Rome, I’m peering through the Vatican Observatory’s historic 1891 telescope. It can’t compete with Rome’s light pollution and is mainly for fun and tourism — we’re hoping to welcome visitors again soon — but it still offers views of the Moon, the rings of Saturn and other highlights of the night sky.

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Nature 598, 378 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02761-7

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