Join us on February 12th for our next Full Moon-th Meetup – our guest will be Dr. Diana Hannikainen, Editor in Chief of Sky & Telescope magazine!
Click here to add this event to your calendar
Our tradition of hosting online meetups with our Sacred Space Astronomy members and the Vatican Observatory staff, scholars and friends during the Full Moon in Tucson (or thereabout, as in this case) continues on Wednesday February 12th at 12:00 Noon ET (10:00 AM Tucson time). This meetup is a perk for our Sacred Space Astronomy subscribers- you get to chat with each other, and astronomers and scientists from the Vatican Observatory!
We’ll also have the latest astronomy news and an update about the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope1.

Following an undergraduate degree at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Diana decided to explore her Finnish roots, and headed over to the University of Helsinki to pursue postgraduate studies. There she earned an MSc, followed by a PhD in high energy astrophysics. Her research focused on microquasars, or X-ray binaries that exhibit radio jets – systems that mimic quasars on morphological levels, but for the scaled-down black holes. Diana embarked on her PhD research from an X-ray astronomy perspective but was lucky to have forged a collaboration (that lasted throughout her research career) with astronomers at the University of Sydney in Australia. This opened up the ever-fascinating world of radio astronomy to her (and permitted her to visit warmer climes during the Nordic winters).
Outside of astronomy, Diana is passionate about theater, and besides acting also co-founded an English-language theater company while in Finland. She is an avid tennis player, and would also like to get back onto a volleyball court at some point. After seven years in Florida where she discovered birding, Diana is now eager to learn all about the birds of New England. (From Sky and Telescope Magazine)
When? Wednesday, February 12, 2025: Rain or shine
What time? These meetups will happen around lunch time in North America: in particular, 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, which is 10:00 AM Tucson time.
How do you access the Zoom link? Join Sacred Space Astronomy and you’ll get an email with the full link! If you are already a member, log in to the Vatican Observatory site, and you will see the Zoom info at the bottom of this post.
1The Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope consists of the Alice P. Lennon Telescope, and the Thomas J. Bannan Astrophysics Facility.