It is approaching Christmas, so watchers of the statue of Padre Kino on Kino Boulevard in Tucson will be looking for the red earmuffs. These have been appearing on the horse’s ears as a kindly seasonal gesture against the desert night’s cold. Further along the left side of the horse, resting on Kino’s saddlebag, you will notice a round instrument with what looks like a cross spanning its diameter. This is an astrolabe, or an earlier version of a sextant, and it was used for measuring the positions of celestial objects.

What was the Christmas Star? Was it a comet, a novae, a supernovae or a grouping of planets? Astronomer, Fr Christopher Corbally, from the Vatican Observatory in Arizona, explores several theories.

Fr. Corbally gave the 2012 Niles lecture.

Fr. Corbally gave the 2012 Kress lecture.

Fr. Corbally gives talks in Primland.

Fr. Chris at Tucson High Magnet School.

The Adler Mix Podcast, Episode 33 - Reaching for the Heavens: Vatican Observatory - George V. Coyne, S.J.

Reaching for the Heavens: Vatican Observatory - George V. Coyne, S.J.
Presented at the Adler Planetarium on November 16th, 2011

The University of Arizona is home to one of the world's largest telescopes and astronomers work very closely with the Vatican.

High above the Southern Arizona desert two white domes peek out of Pinaleno Mountains near Safford. The two domes are observatories, one is run by the Vatican, and the University of Arizona operates the larger telescope.