Temporal context can affect interpretation of literature. Take for example William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984): “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”

Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno is retiring after 10 years as director of the Vatican Observatory. He leaves a legacy of bridging faith and science, teaching that humility and collaboration are key to discovery. Thank you, Brother Guy! www.americamagazine.org/faithinfocus...

New toy (um, I mean valuable scientific instrument) in the lab.

Totally didn't expect to take this photo today.

I watch a fair amount of YouTube and so get inundated with YouTube ads. Today I just got an ad for the meteorites at the natural history museum at Abu Dhabi. Ludovic Ferriere, this is your fault! :)

Vatican News has published this so I guess now I can share. www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-c...

In its current issue, the NEW YORKER profiles the Director of the Vatican Observatory, Brother Guy Consolmagno. Quoted: sage editor @pnh.nielsenhayden.com. Mentioned: Emperor Domitian, @brbobmackesj.bsky.social, various Popes. 🔭🧪

Hello, I'm a scientist in a film. I will run one lab test, the results of which immediately appear in full 3D on my holographic display (complete with sound effects). I will take one glance at it and make a groundbreaking discovery. All before coffee.

Another interesting find in the Specola guestbook.

View from my front door this morning

“Keyboard missing. Press any key to continue.” I know I put the keyboard here somewhere…

Today CBS SUNDAY MORNING ran a 5-minute story on the Vatican Observatory, highlighting the astrophysics Summer School at @specola.bsky.social, the old telescopes, and the meteorite collection. Interviewees: @specolations.bsky.social & @brbobmackesj.bsky.social. (Clip below has obligatory ads.)

VOSS visitors today included Sr. Raffaella Petrini FSE (President of the Vatican Governatorate), Fr. General Arturo Sosa SJ (General Superior of the Society of Jesus), Vatican Secretary General Giuseppe Pugliesi-Alibrandi, Fr. Delegate Johann Verschueren SJ* and Fr. Socius Gian-Giacomo Rotelli SJ*

Summary of my encounter with Pope Leo XIV

Astronomer Vera C. Rubin to appear on U.

As of today, I have been alive for 6 popes, have been in the same room (in close proximity) with four of them, and have personally met three of them. For the two odd ones out, they passed away before I was even aware that there was such a thing as a pope, let alone who they were.

Not sure if this is “minor celebrity” or “minor interaction,” so I’ll assume the latter. There was that time I didn’t get interviewed by Morgan Freeman. He was scheduled but there was a big storm that day and he couldn’t make it. (We also lost power. )

Thanks to a visit from @larrynittler.bsky.social, I am rich! Much coinage! And I didn't even have to lose a tooth. Oh, and the design is pretty cool too. One of the founding faculty of the very first Vatican Observatory Summer School (1986).

From this morning’s walk

On the Specola calendar for next week is "Ricevimento in onore Cardinale di Albano" (reception in honor of the cardinal of Albano). I'm guessing that's no longer happening. Seems he got a new job.

In 1891, the previous Pope Leo (XIII) not only published the encyclical Rerum Novarum (which laid the foundation for modern Catholic social teaching) but he also formally established the Vatican Observatory.

Good to know the new boss has a background in mathematics

Habemus papam! (But don’t know who yet)

Very frustrating: I search for a livestream of the conclave and most of the links are for a frikkin' movie.

Conclave starts today! They'll be shutting down cell service in the Vatican, but thankfully the comm blackout doesn't include Castel Gandolfo so I can continue to not receive calls simply because of poor reception instead of ecclesiopolitical necessity.

From the Vatican Observatory's guestbook. Looks like Harlow Shapley had a sense of humo(u)r.

its not a haiku unless you make the last line refrigerator

you can differentiate whether somebody is a meteoriticist or a political scientist by asking when Allende fell.

You can differentiate whether somebody studies labor law or chemistry by how they pronounce "unionized."

Blessed to attend Mass on Sunday in a quiet setting at the Biblicum. The Mass was celebrated by Fr. Jose Luis Narvajo SJ, accompanied by his extended family and a few of his Jesuit confreres. His family were in town for the funeral of another dear relative.

He will be missed.

He will be missed.

+RIP Papa Francesco

Fear kills love (charity). The antidote to fear is hope.

The extraterrestrials on my desk and the story of how chemists helped figure out their origins. My latest in @naturechemistry.bsky.social with thanks to @brbobmackesj.bsky.social and the meteorite collection at @vaticanobservatory.bsky.social rdcu.be/eggUr

A stereogram suitable for the first day of April. Enjoy!

Researchers found 14 of the 20 amino acids essential for life on Earth in samples from the ancient asteroid Bennu.

A while back I bragged about sharing coauthorship on a paper with Brian May, but not *that* Brian May. Now I can brag about sharing coauthorship with *that* Brian May. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

As both a planetary scientist and a philosopher, and as a colleague of both a member of the IAU committee that redefined "planet" and one of its principal critics, I find this XKCD ( @xkcd.com ) fascinating. xkcd.com/3063/

(pun alert) One of these days I'll take some time off work, just to spend it begging friends for Italian rice balls. I will call it a supplì-cation.

Was playing with a story in which somebody says <weird thing> and the interlocutor responds, "that's nothing. I once shared a flight with a werewolf during a full moon." Once the image popped into my head, I had to try illustrating it.

If you see this, quote it with what you're reading this weekend. I’m finishing up The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher. After that I’ll probably reread something by Naomi Novik.

Experimenting with comic art in Procreate

This morning I attended a Mass of Thanksgiving in the Vatican for Cardinal Vérgez, the newly retired president of the Governatorate. The new president, Sr. Raffaella Petrini, said some very nice words at the end of the Mass.

Progress report

Progress report