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.
- Update frequency
- every 60 days
- Average duration
- 32 minutes
- Episodes
- 26
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2025
Meet The New Boss!
Br. Guy Consolmagno chats with Rev. Richard A. D'Souza - the incoming Director of the Vatican Observatory! He takes the reins from Br. Guy on September 19, 2025.
Co-Hosts:
Br. Guy Consolmagno SJ: Direc…
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 sci…
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 variou…
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 Lucy mission to the Trojan asteroids.
Hosts:
Br…
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 …
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 …
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 everyt…
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 …
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 du…
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, a…
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 o…
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…
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 techi…
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-Do…
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 ce…
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 wher…
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 …
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, long…
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…
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 Eng…