Centuries after the Holy See silenced Roman Catholic astronomers for questioning the Earth’s central position in space, Jesuit astronomers from the Vatican’s interior observatory are increasingly writing their names in heaven.

The Vatican, ruled by Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope in history, recently announced that three more Jesuit scientists from a Jesuit-run observatory have named asteroids after themselves as part of a new batch that included a 16th-century pope who commissioned the Gregorian and Tuscan calendars. a pastry chef whose hobby is the vault of heaven.

Jesuits, although not as many as stars, over 30 asteroids assigned to them since space rocks began to be officially named in 1801. This “should not be surprising given the often scientific nature of this community,” said astronomer Don Yeomans, who worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. ., and is now part of the group that officially approves the names given to asteroids.

The three astral Jesuits named last month are Rev. Robert Janusz, a Polish priest and physicist who measures light from star clusters (565184 Janusz); Rev. William R. Stoger (1943-2014), American clergyman (551878 Stoger); and Rev. Johann Georg Hagen (1847–1930), an Austrian American who, according to Johannhagen’s title 562971, “devised some ingenious experiments at the Vatican to demonstrate the rotation of the earth, directly confirming the theories of Copernicus and Galileo.”

All three work or have worked at the Specola Vaticana, or Vatican Observatory, near the papal gardens at Castel Gandolfo, a short drive from Rome. The observatory is a descendant of centuries of Vatican-sponsored stellar research and is the only Vatican body dedicated to scientific research.

The history of the observatory, which has been staffed by Jesuits since the 1930s, is a return to the notion that the Roman Catholic Church has always sought to stand in the way of scientific progress, an idea perpetuated by high-profile cases such as Galileo and Giordano Bruno at the hands of the Inquisition in the Renaissance.

“There are institutions like the Pontifical Academy of Sciences that tell the Vatican what’s going on in the world of science, but we’re actually doing the science,” Brat said. Guy Consolmagnoasteroid award winner (4597 Consolmagno) and director observatory, whose website slogan is “science inspires faith”. In a 2017 interview with The New York Times, Brother Consolmagno said part of the observatory’s mission was to “show the world that the church stands for science.”

It is significant that the former director of the observatory, the Jesuit astrophysicist Reverend George W. Coyne, who died in 2020, played a significant role in getting the Vatican to change its position and officially admit in 1992 that Galileo could be right.

“What the Bible is not,” Father Coyne told The New York Times Magazine in 1994, “is a science textbook. Scripture is made up of myth, poetry, history. But it’s just not teaching science.”

Specola’s roots go back to Pope Gregory XIII, who built an observatory known as the Tower of the Winds inside the Vatican so that astronomers could study the reform of the Julian calendar, which was in use until 1582. Gregory aka Ugo Boncompagni (1502-1585), who was an important early Jesuit patron and now has an asteroid named after him, 560794 Ugoboncompagni.

Among the astronomers working on the reformed calendar was the Jesuit Christopher Clavius ​​(1538–1612) — the asteroid 20237 Clavius ​​— who lived at the College of Rome, a school in the Italian capital founded in 1551 by Saint Ignatius of Loyola. , founder of the order.

The College of Rome produced several generations of astronomers, including Giovanni Battista Riccioli (1598-1671) – asteroid 122632 Riccioli – who published a map of the Moon in 1647 and codified some of the lunar nomenclatures that are still in use today. When Neil Armstrong said, “Houston, Tranquility Base is here. The Eagle Has Landed” during the Apollo 11 lunar mission in 1969, “Calm” was a reference to the Sea of ​​Tranquility, or Sea of ​​Tranquility, which Riccioli named.

Asteroid 4705 Secchi is named after the Jesuit priest Angelo Secchi (1818-1878), who was a pioneer of astronomical spectroscopy and was director of the Roman College Observatory from 1848 until his death.

The current Vatican Observatory astronomers primarily divide their time between Castel Gandolfo and Mount Graham, Arizona, where the Vatican operates the telescope. in partnership with the University of Arizona.

Rev. Jean-Baptiste Kikwaya Eluo, who works at the observatory, said that the scientist and believer is changing the way a person observes the world. He said that his scientific vocation was supported by his superiors in the Jesuit order. (An asteroid is also named after him: 23443 Kikvaya.)

As Jesuits, “because we sincerely believe that God is the one who put everything there, it puts us in a completely different relationship to what we are seeing,” Father Kikwai said in a Zoom talk from Arizona.

The names of asteroids, also known as minor planets or minor solar system bodies, are controlled a group of professional astronomers, member of the International Astronomical Union. The group is given a list of suggested names and citations each month, but not all asteroids are tagged; only about 3.8 percent of the 620,000 numbered asteroids have been named. specific recommendations.

Traditionally, the names favored mythological figures from Greece or Rome (the first four were named Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta), but later inspiration was drawn from other cultures. Ryugufor example, a magical underwater palace in Japanese folklore, and Bennu was named after an ancient Egyptian bird deity (chosen from thousands of records in a “Name this asteroid!” contest). There is also Apophiswho in Egyptian mythology is the enemy of the sun god Ra.

Over the intervening decades, more prosaic attributions have emerged, mostly to scientists, astronomers, or high-profile figures. In recent years, the names of asteroids have also been inspired by the winners and top performers of school science and engineering fairs. (New York Times science writer Carl Zimmer also has an asteroid: 212073 Karlzimmer.)

There are restrictions. “Pet names are not welcome,” the guide notes, and historical figures associated with “the slave trade, genocide, or eugenics” are unacceptable. There is also a restriction on military and political figures – they must have died at least 100 years ago to be considered.

However, the discovery of the process has raised questions about the naming of asteroids by students whose future has not yet been completed.

Take the case of the representative of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who an asteroid named after her (23238 Ocasio-Cortez) after her school project won a prize at an international science and technology fair. “This is true,” she tweeted in 2018.

Despite Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s subsequent career, the asteroid will retain her name; there is no retroactive complaint. “We don’t,” said Gareth Williams, secretary of the naming group called the Working Group on Small Body Nomenclature.

The group also tends to “strongly disapprove” the naming of asteroids after religious figures. Williams said. But the current generation of Jesuit astronomers “was named not because they were Jesuits, but because they were astronomers. They just happened to be Jesuits,” the doctor said. Williams noted.

Many names of asteroids have their own history. In the latest batch, asteroid 44715 was named Paolovezzosi, after Paolo Vezzosi, an amateur astronomer and pastry chef from the Italian city of Montelupo Fiorentino in Tuscany. Mr. Vezzosi is quoted as “serving delicious cakes” at offsite events.

He was appointed by Maura Tombelli, president of the astronomical group that funded and built public observatory in Montelupo Fiorentino. Ms. Tombelli has discovered 200 asteroids over decades of stargazing (asteroid 9904 is named after her by Mauratombelli).

According to Ms. Tombelli, the appointment of Mr. Vezzosi was a way of thanking him for helping to launch the observatory.

“We had nothing more to give, only my stones in the sky,” she said.