“Adventures of a Vatican Astronomer”
The Huachuca Astronomy Club is proud to present a talk by Br. Guy Consolmagno of the Vatican Observatory on Friday November 27, 2015 at 7 PM in the community room of the Student Union Building at Cochise College, Sierra Vista campus.
This talk is FREE and open to the public.
(Talk synopsis): No scientist is a Spock-like android; a scientist’s work is as intuitive, and just as full of human foibles, as a painting, a symphony, or a prayer. But most of us don’t have the opportunity (or training) to reflect on the human dimensions of our work. Br. Guy Consolmagno does; he is both a Jesuit brother and a planetary scientist at the Vatican Observatory, splitting his time between the meteorite collection in Rome (which he curates) and the Vatican telescope in Arizona. Thanks to his Vatican connections, his work has sent him around the world several times to dozens of countries and every continent (including a meteorite hunting expedition to Antarctica). In this talk he will share some of those adventures, and reflect on the larger meaning of our common experience as scientists… not only what we do, but why we do it.
Br. Guy Consolmagno has been an astronomer at the Vatican Observatory since 1993. He is President of the Vatican Observatory Foundation and curator of the Vatican meteorite collection in Castel Gandolfo, one of the largest in the world. His research explores the connections between meteorites and asteroids, and the origin and evolution of small bodies in the solar system. He has coauthored five astronomy books including “Turn Left at Orion” which has become one of the most recommended books for beginners currently in print. He was honored by the IAU for his contributions to the study of meteorites and asteroids with the naming of asteroid 4597 Consolmagno in 2000.