Join us on Sunday, July 21st for our next Full Moon-th Meetup! Our guest will be Claudio Costa, who was appointed Technical Assistant to the Director of the Vatican Observatory with the task of maintaining their historical instruments at their headquarters in Castel Gandolfo. Claudio directed the restoration project of these instruments that made them available for educational and informative activities.
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) continues on Sunday July 21st 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.
Claudio Costa graduated from La Sapienza University of Rome in Electronic Engineering with a specialization in Software Engineering and Command and Control Systems, and for more than forty years he has worked for major Italian and international companies in the field.
But then, there’s the “other” Claudio: the amateur astronomer. Since he was nine years old, he has been a passionate observer and a scholar of the sky.
By the time he was at University he was working at the Vatican Observatory with Dr. Giorgio Bounvino. In fact, he’s been a part of the Specola longer than anyone else. Among other accomplishments, he obtained some of the first CCD images of the spots on Jupiter made by the initial impact of Comet Shoemaker Levy in 1994.
He currently serves as Technical Assistant to the Director with the task of restoring and maintaining the historical instruments at the Specola.
Now that the Vatican Museums are running tours of the Specola’s Visitor Center, Claudio has instructed more than 80 Vatican tourist guides on the history of the Specola and he has also has personally led numerous groups to observe at the focus of the Carte du Ciel telescope.
He’s also a remarkable astrophotographer, whose work has graced a number of Specola publications,
Claudio’s Personal Website: https://carocicosta.it/
When? Sunday, July 21, 2024: 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.
