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An Evening of Celebration

Apostolic Nunciature of the Holy See 3339 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC, United States

A celebration in honor of Br. Guy's newest book, a Jesuit's Guide to the Stars

St Valentine’s Day

Saint Valentine was a widely recognized 3rd-century Roman saint, commemorated in Christianity on February 14. From the High Middle Ages his Saints’ Day is associated with a tradition of courtly love. – Wikipedia

Anniversary of the 2013 Chelyabinsk Asteroid Impact Event

On February 15 2013 an asteroid exploded in the sky over the city of Chelyabinsk, in the the southern Ural region of Russia. The shock wave blew out windows all over the city, injuring over 1600 people, and damaged several buildings.

James Dewar, died 1923

Sir James Dewar FRS FRSE (20 September 1842 – 27 March 1923) was a British chemist and physicist. He is best known for his invention of the vacuum flask, which he used in conjunction with research into the liquefaction of gases. He also studied atomic and molecular spectroscopy, working in these fields for more than 25 years. - Wikipedia

Val Logsdon Fitch, born 1923

Val Logsdon Fitch (March 10, 1923 – February 5, 2015) was an American nuclear physicist who, with co-researcher James Cronin, was awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physics for a 1964 experiment using the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron at Brookhaven National Laboratory that proved that certain subatomic reactions do not adhere to fundamental symmetry principles. Specifically, they proved, by examining the decay of K-mesons, that a reaction run in […]

Total Lunar Eclipse

The Moon will pass into Earth’s shadow and appear to turn red on the night of March 13 or early in the morning on March 14.

Fr. Eusebio Kino SJ, died 1711

Eusebio Francisco Kino, SJ (Italian: Eusebio Francesco Chini, Spanish: Eusebio Francisco Kino; 10 August 1645 – 15 March 1711), often referred to as Father Kino, was a Tyrolean Jesuit, missionary, geographer, explorer, cartographer and astronomer born in the Territory of the Bishopric of Trent, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. For the last 24 years of his life he worked in the region then known as the Pimería Alta, modern-day Sonora in Mexico and southern Arizona in the United […]

St. Patrick’s Day (Ireland)

Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit. 'the Day of the Festival of Patrick'), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (c. 385 – c. 461), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Christian feast day in the early 17th century and is observed by the Catholic Church, […]

St. Joseph

Saint Joseph's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Joseph or the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, is in Western Christianity the principal feast day of Saint Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary and legal father of Jesus Christ, celebrated on 19 March. It has the rank of a solemnity in the Catholic Church. It is a feast or commemoration in the provinces of the Anglican Communion, and a feast or festival in the Lutheran Church. Saint […]

World Meteorological Day

The World Meteorological Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations, based in Geneva. It "is dedicated to international cooperation and coordination on the state and behaviour of the Earth’s atmosphere, its interaction with the land and oceans, the weather and climate it produces, and the resulting distribution of water resources." The World Meteorological […]

Christopher Clavius SJ, born 1538

Christopher Clavius, SJ (25 March 1538 – 6 February 1612) was a Jesuit German mathematician, head of mathematicians at the Collegio Romano, and astronomer who was a member of the Vatican commission that accepted the proposed calendar invented by Aloysius Lilius, that is known as the Gregorian calendar. Clavius would later write defences and an explanation of the reformed calendar, including an emphatic […]

Tullio Levi-Civita, born 1873

Tullio Levi-Civita, ForMemRS (English: /ˈtʊlioʊ ˈlɛvi ˈtʃɪvɪtə/, Italian: ; 29 March 1873 – 29 December 1941) was an Italian mathematician, most famous for his work on absolute differential calculus (tensor calculus) and its applications to the theory of relativity, but who also made significant contributions in other areas. He was a pupil of Gregorio Ricci-Curbastro, the inventor of tensor calculus. His work included foundational papers in both pure and applied […]

Francesco Zantedeschi died 1873

Francesco Zantedeschi (August 20, 1797 – March 29, 1873) was an Italian Catholic priest and physicist. A native of Dolcè, near Verona, Zantedeschi was for some time professor of physics and philosophy in the Liceo of Venice. Later he accepted the chair of physics in the University of Padua, which he held until 1853 being then obliged to resign on account of failing sight. He was an […]

Cesar Chavez Day, born 1927, Yuma, AZ.

Cesar Chavez (born César Estrada Chávez, locally ; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and Latino American civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, later renamed the United Farm Workers (UFW) union. - Wikipedia

April Fools Day.

April Fools' Day or April Fool's Day (sometimes called All Fools' Day) is an annual celebration on April 1, commemorated by practical jokes and hoaxes. The player(s) of the joke(s) or hoax(es) often exposes their action by shouting "April fool(s)" at the recipient(s). The recipient of these actions are called April fools. Mass media can be involved in these pranks that the following […]

An Evening With the Pope’s Astronomer – Jones Day

Jones Day New York Brookfield Place, 250 Vesey Street, New York, NY, United States

Spend an evening with Br. Guy Consolmagno - Director of the Vatican Observatory, and President of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. Br. Guy will discuss his new book A Jesuit's Guide to the Stars, and the many threads of Faith and Science that the Vatican Observatory staff weaves into a tapestry of public outreach and education. […]

International Day of Human Space Flight.

The General Assembly, in its resolution A/RES/65/271 of 7 April 2011, declared 12 April as the International Day of Human Space Flight “to celebrate each year at the international level the beginning of the space era for mankind, reaffirming the important contribution of space science and technology in achieving sustainable development goals and increasing the well-being of […]

Mars at Aphelion

Mars will be at the farthest point in its orbit around the Sun on this date - 154,425,919.9 miles.  

J. A. Fleming died, 1945 (b. 1849).

Illustration from the Bibliographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1945. The Royal Society, London. Sir John Ambrose Fleming FRS died in 1945, aged 95 (born 29 November 1849). "He was an English electrical engineer and physicist who invented the first thermionic valve or vacuum tube, designed the radio transmitter with which the first […]

International Earth Day

First held in 1970, Earth Day is held annually on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection.

Lyrids Meteor Shower

Peak: ~Apr 21-22, 2020 The Lyrids are a medium strength shower that usually produces good rates for three nights centered on the maximum. These meteors also usually lack persistent trains but can produce fireballs. These meteors are best seen from the northern hemisphere where the radiant is high in the sky at dawn. Activity from […]

A Jesuit’s Guide to the Stars: Exploring Wonder, Beauty, and Science

Church of Saint Thomas More 1079 Summit Avenue, Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States

Curious about God, the cosmos and you?You can ask the Pope’s astronomer! Come with your curiosity and questions to hear Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ, 7:00 pm, Thursday, April 24, 2025, at Saint Thomas More Catholic Church In his new book, A Jesuit Guide to the Stars, Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ, asks, “Do we need to know […]

Cinco de Mayo

Mother's Day in the United States is an annual holiday celebrated on the second Sunday in May. Mother's Day recognizes mothers, motherhood and maternal bonds in general, as well as the positive contributions that they make to society. It was established by Anna Jarvis, with the first official Mother's Day celebrated through a service of worship at St. Andrew's Methodist […]

Mother’s Day (USA)

Mother's Day in the United States is an annual holiday celebrated on the second Sunday in May. Mother's Day recognizes mothers, motherhood and maternal bonds in general, as well as the positive contributions that they make to society. It was established by Anna Jarvis, with the first official Mother's Day celebrated through a service of worship at St. Andrew's Methodist […]

World Metrology Day.

World Metrology Day is an annual celebration of the signature of the Metre Convention on 20 May 1875 by representatives of seventeen nations. The Convention set the framework for global collaboration in the science of measurement and in its industrial, commercial and societal applications. The original aim of the Metre Convention - the world-wide uniformity […]

Casa Faith & Science Series at the Franciscan Renewal Center

Volunteers from the Vatican Observatory Foundation will discuss the Church’s historical views on the interaction of Faith and Science as well as theological thoughts based on the book Science and Faith by John Haught. The event will begin in the San Damiano Auditorium, and will conclude with a short walk to the back of the […]

Towel Day

Towel Day is an annual celebration on the 25th of May, as a tribute to the late author Douglas Adams (1952-2001). On that day, fans around the universe carry a towel in his honor. Towel Day 2021 marks the 43rd anniversary of the first BBC broadcast of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1978).

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Memorial Day 2021 will occur on Monday, May 31. Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday […]

Ascension

The Ascension Day of Jesus Christ always falls on a Thursday - it is the day when Christians celebrate the ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven as recorded in the Bible.

World Bicycle Day.

In April 2018, the United Nations General Assembly declared June 3 as International World Bicycle Day. The resolution for World Bicycle Day recognizes "the uniqueness, longevity and versatility of the bicycle, which has been in use for two centuries, and that it is a simple, affordable, reliable, clean and environmentally fit sustainable means of transport." Read More: https://www.un.org/en/observances/bicycle-day https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Bicycle_Day

Full Moon

The Full Moon rises at sunset, and is visible all night. The Vatican Observatory's monthly Full Moon Meetup for Sacred Space Astronomy subscribers is held at 10:00 AM Tucson time.

Venus at Aphelion.

Venus's 225-day orbit around the Sun will carry it to its furthest point to the Sun – its aphelion – at a distance of 0.73 AU.

Charles Babbage’s paper on the difference engine, 1822

Charles Babbage (1791-1871), computer pioneer, designed two classes of engine, Difference Engines, and Analytical Engines. Difference engines are so called because of the mathematical principle on which they are based, namely, the method of finite differences. The beauty of the method is that it uses only arithmetical addition and removes the need for multiplication and […]

Summer Solstice

The summer solstice is the day when the Sun appears to reach its highest point in the sky during the year - it marks the start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

Event Series New Moon 2025

New Moon 2025

New Moon. By the modern definition, New Moon occurs when the Moon and Sun are at the same geocentric ecliptic longitude. The part of the Moon facing us is completely in shadow then. Pictured here is the traditional New Moon, the earliest visible waxing crescent, which signals the start of a new month in many […]

International Asteroid Day

International Asteroid Day is a United Nations-recognized day observed each year on the anniversary of the Tunguska impact event of June 30, 1908.

Canada Day.

Canada Day (French: Fête du Canada) is the national day of Canada. A federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of July 1, 1867, the effective date of the Constitution Act, 1867 (then called the British North America Act, 1867), which united the three separate colonies of the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick into a single Dominion within the British Empire […]

Thomas Harriot, mapped the Moon with a telescope 4 months before Galileo (d. 1621)

Thomas Harriot was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer and translator who made advances within the scientific field. Thomas Harriot was recognized for his contributions in astronomy, mathematics, and navigational techniques. Harriot worked closely with John White to create advanced maps for navigation. While Harriot worked extensively on numerous papers on the subjects of astronomy, mathematics and navigation, the amount of work that he actually […]

Earth at Aphelion

Earth will be at the farthest point in its orbit around the Sun on this date

Independence Day (USA)

Independence Day is a U.S. federal holiday commemorating the Declaration of Independence of the United States, on July 4, 1776.

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