Skip to content
Vatican Observatory
  • About
    • Overview
    • Team
    • FAQ
  • Telescopes
    • Overview
    • Telescope Images
  • Latest
    • Overview
    • Resources
    • Press
    • Audio
    • Video
    • Research
    • Authors
      • FAQs
    • Newsletter
    • Tucson Meteor Cameras
  • Podcast
  • Education
    • Overview
    • Resource Center
    • Image Gallery
    • Summer School
    • Books
    • Software
    • Additional Resources
    • ACME
    • Ambassadors
  • Shop
  • Calendar
  • Support
    • Overview
    • Donate Now
    • Smart Ways to Give
    • Sacred Space Astronomy
      • View Content
    • Fr. Coyne Fundraiser
    • Bequests / Trusts
    • The Foundation
      • Newsletters
      • Annual Reports
  • Press
  • Specola Vaticana
  • Contact
    • Contact
  • About
    • Overview
    • Team
    • FAQ
  • Telescopes
    • Overview
    • Telescope Images
  • Latest
    • Overview
    • Resources
    • Press
    • Audio
    • Video
    • Research
    • Authors
      • FAQs
    • Newsletter
    • Tucson Meteor Cameras
  • Podcast
  • Education
    • Overview
    • Resource Center
    • Image Gallery
    • Summer School
    • Books
    • Software
    • Additional Resources
    • ACME
    • Ambassadors
  • Shop
  • Calendar
  • Support
    • Overview
    • Donate Now
    • Smart Ways to Give
    • Sacred Space Astronomy
      • View Content
    • Fr. Coyne Fundraiser
    • Bequests / Trusts
    • The Foundation
      • Newsletters
      • Annual Reports
  • Press
  • Specola Vaticana
  • Contact
    • Contact

Br. Guy Diary: January 17

By Br. Guy Consolmagno  |  17 Jan 2015

Share:
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share via Email

This entry is part 24 of 98 in the series Diary

My plan is to post regular updates, about once a week I hope, on my current work and the doings at the Vatican Observatory. This might give the members of our Sacred Space an idea of what our day to day life is like. Let me know if you enjoy these entries!
This week: What is Life? Learning to FUZE, and a visit from the Jesuit Refugee Service.

Another busy week!

Learning to Fuze: My big tasks this week were to get ready for the online course I am teaching for the Jesuit Virtual Learning Academy which began on Thursday. What astronomy do you teach a bunch of kids with different backgrounds? I have decided on a radical course – at least, I think it is radical. Instead of using a standard textbook, I am having the class buy H. A. Rey’s classic book, The Stars. By midterm they should have learned most of the constellations, plus the material in the back of that book which does such a great job of describing how the stars appear to move in our skies, and why.

Only after they’ve mastered that will we go into the standard material of describing what we know of stars, nebulae, galaxies, black holes etc. etc.

I am also planning on having them get access, for as long as they are in the course, to this web site so that they too can see what astronomers are up to, day to day!

As a part of this experience, I am learning how to use the Fuze software, which the JVLA uses to chat with students. One hope I have is that, once I see hot it works, we may use it (or something like it) to power live, online conversations here at this web site. Stay tuned!

What is Life? Well, for one thing, it’s the name of a favorite George Harrison song. But it is also the title of a talk I will be giving on January 27 to open the University of Arizona’s College of Sciences annual science lecture series. The topic this year is Life in the Universe. I had to prepare a first cut at the talk to give to the other presenters on Thursday. They seemed to like it, but they also had lots of good suggestions to improve and expand the topic. Since I will be setting the stage for their talks, it is really useful to make sure we’re all on the same page.

Refugees: Our community here in Tucson is not far from a Jesuit work at the Nogales Border to help refugees and immigrants.

Bishop Kicanas giving communion through the fence in Nogales

In support of that work, and all the other work that is done by the Jesuit Refugee Service, we hosted a JRS fundraiser here at our home, last Wednesday.

One question that we don’t often get asked directly, but which is in the back of everyone’s minds I am sure, is, “why do you guys do astronomy when there are people starving in the world?” That question is what drove me to quit astronomy thirty years ago and join the Peace Corps. What I learned in Africa was that people everywhere are hungry not only for food but for the food of the soul that astronomy can help nourish; to deny them that food, is to deny them their humanity. We do not live by bread alone. (I read that somewhere.)

Nonetheless, food is essential, too. And so we support our brother Jesuits in their work. Brother Tom, whom I have mentioned in earlier posts, worked himself for the JRS in a refugee camp in Thailand for many years.

And it turns out that the Jesuit rep of the JRS who came to our fundraiser, Fr. Kevin White, is himself a former Peace Corps Volunteer who arrived in Kenya the year I left to come back to the States! Small world…

Share:
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share via Email

Sacred Space Astronomy

The Vatican Observatory’s official digital community and online magazine.

Become a Member

Recent Posts

Ask an AI about the History of Astronomy

By Mr. Christopher Graney  |  25 Mar 2023

Skyward by David Levy – March 2023

By David Levy  |  24 Mar 2023

Conjunction of the Moon and the Pleiades – March 25

By Robert Trembley  |  23 Mar 2023  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

The Northern Mountains

By Richard Hill  |  22 Mar 2023  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

Archives

      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • October
      • September
      • August
      • July
      • June
      • May
      • April
      • March
      • February
      • January
      • December
      • November
      • August
      • June
      • March
      • January
      • November
      • October
      • December
      • November
      • April
      • May
      • January
      • December
      • September
      • May
      • March
      • December
      • November
      • February

More Posts in this Series:
"Diary"

78  |  What Do We Lose When We Sacrifice Science?

By Br. Guy Consolmagno  |  27 May 2021  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

69  |  To err is human… to admit it, is science

By Br. Guy Consolmagno  |  25 Mar 2021  |  Sacred Space Astronomy

23  |  Another reminder… support this site!

By Br. Guy Consolmagno  |  21 Feb 2016

25  |  Diary: Where does the money go? (Part I)

By Br. Guy Consolmagno  |  1 Aug 2017

26  |  Galileo’s Rivals

By Br. Guy Consolmagno  |  21 Oct 2017

Newsletter

Upcoming astronomical events, scientific breakthroughs, philosophical reflections… just a few reasons to subscribe to our newsletter!

Vatican Observatory
  • About
  • Telescopes
  • Latest
  • Podcast
  • Education
  • Shop
  • Calendar
  • Support
  • Press
  • Specola Vaticana
  • Contact
Privacy Policy  |   Cookie Policy  |   Disclosure Statement

Podcast:

  • Apple Podcasts Listen onApple Podcasts
  • Spotify Listen onSpotify
  • Google Podcasts Listen onGoogle Podcasts
  • Stitcher Listen onStitcher
  • Amazon Alexa Listen onAmazon Alexa
  • TuneIn Listen onTuneIn
Made by Longbeard