The Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope

1. Pope John Paul II chats with Fr. Sabino Maffeo SJ, vice director of the Specola (1985 – 2003). Fr. Maffeo wrote the first comprehensive history of the Specola, In the Service of Nine Popes. Notable for the Specola, Pope John Paul II wrote a famous letter to its director, Fr. George Coyne, on the nature of faith and science; he also approved the opening of a center in Tucson, which eventually led to the construction of the Alice B. Lennon Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT).

2. The heart of the VATT is its pioneering spin-cast mirror, with a diameter of 1.8 meters and an f/1 focal ration.

3. The mirror was the first produced by the revolutionary spin-cast method, where glass is molten over a honeycomb form in a spinning oven. Shown here is the mirror with the inventor of the spin-cast method, Roger Angel. He proposed that the Vatican share the mirror with the University of Arizona, thus giving rise to the saying that “the Vatican has a telescope mirror made by an Angel”!

4. Because of the very low focal length of the mirror, the telescope has a very unusual compact size, allowing it to be housed in a small dome. Thus the area around the mirror can be easily held at the same temperature as the nighttime air, allowing for steady seeing during the night.

5. When Pope John Paul II came to Arizona in 1987, he met with Fr. Coyne and Dr. Angel, who described their plans for what would become the Large Binocular Telescope to be built near the VATT, utilizing the same spin-cast mirror technology.

6. The VATT is located on Mt. Graham, a dark, dry, and remote mountaintop in eastern Arizona. It is connected to the Thomas Bannan Astrophysical Laboratory, which also includes living quarters for the astronomers.

7. The sharp focus of the telescope mirrors and the clear dark site allow for stunning images of deep sky objects. Shown here are the Ring Nebula in Lyra (M 57), image by Matt Nelson, and the Crab Nebula in Taurus (M1), imaged by Br. Jonathan Stott SJ.

8. From the roof of the Large Binocular Telescope, one can see the VATT nestled in the snow-covered trees; to its right is the large square building housing the ten-meter mirror of the Submillimeter (Radio) telescope.