1.
Holy See
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The Holy See, also referred to as the See of Rome, is the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, the episcopal see of the Pope, and an independent sovereign entity. It serves as the point of reference for the Catholic Church everywhere. Today, it is responsible for the governance of all Catholics, organised in their Particular Churches, Patriarchates, as an independent sovereign entity, holding the Vatican City enclave in Rome as sovereign territory, it maintains diplomatic relations with other states. Diplomatically, the Holy See acts and speaks for the whole church and it is also recognised by other subjects of international law as a sovereign entity, headed by the Pope, with which diplomatic relations can be maintained. The creation of the Vatican City state was meant to ensure the diplomatic, in Greek, the adjective holy or sacred is constantly applied to all such sees as a matter of course. The word see comes from the Latin word sedes, meaning seat, while Saint Peters basilica in Vatican City is perhaps the church most associated with the Papacy, the actual cathedral of the Holy See is the church of Saint John Lateran within the city of Rome. The Pope governs the Catholic Church through the Roman Curia, the Secretariat of State, under the Cardinal Secretary of State, directs and coordinates the Curia. The incumbent, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, is the Sees equivalent of a prime minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Secretary of the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State, acts as the Holy Sees minister of foreign affairs. Parolin was named in his role by Pope Francis On 31 August 2013, mamberti was named in his role by Pope Benedict XVI in September 2006. The Secretariat of State is the body of the Curia that is situated within Vatican City. The others are in buildings in different parts of Rome that have rights similar to those of embassies. The Roman Rota handles normal judicial appeals, the most numerous being those that concern alleged nullity of marriage and it also oversees the work of other ecclesiastical tribunals at all levels. The most important of these is the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See, the Prefecture of the Papal Household is responsible for the organization of the papal household, audiences, and ceremonies. The Holy See does not dissolve upon a Popes death or resignation and it instead operates under a different set of laws sede vacante. The government of the See, and therefore of the Catholic Church, canon law prohibits the College and the Camerlengo from introducing any innovations or novelties in the government of the Church during this period. In 2001, the Holy See had a revenue of 422.098 billion Italian lire, the Guardian newspaper described Mennini and his role in the following manner. Paolo Mennini, who is in effect the popes merchant banker, Mennini heads a special unit inside the Vatican called the extraordinary division of APSA – Amministrazione del Patrimonio della Sede Apostolica – which handles the patrimony of the Holy See. The Holy See has been recognized, both in practice and in the writing of modern legal scholars, as a subject of public international law, with rights
2.
Castel Gandolfo
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Castel Gandolfo is a town located 15 miles southeast of Rome in the Lazio region of Italy. Occupying a height on the Alban Hills overlooking Lake Albano, Castel Gandolfo has a population of approximately 8,834 residents and is considered one of Italys most scenic towns. Within the towns boundaries lies the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo which served as a residence and vacation retreat for the pope. Although the palace is located within the borders of Castel Gandolfo, however, it was acknowledged on October 21,2016 that the palace was no longer owned by the Vatican and that it was now open to the public as part of a museum. The resort community includes almost the whole coastline of Lake Albano which is surrounded by many summer residences, villas and it houses the Stadio Olimpico that staged the rowing events during the Rome Olympics. Castel Gandolfo has several places of archaeological interest including the Emissario del Lago Albano, the area is included within the boundaries of the Parco Regionale dei Castelli Romani. There are also points of artistic interest, such as the Collegiate Church of St. Thomas of Villanova. The boundaries of the town extend obliquely in a north-northeast turn around the area of the Alban Hills. It is included and protected by the Regional Park of Castelli Romani, most of the soil is of volcanic origin, with prevalence of materials such as tuff and pozzolana. Its seismic classification is rated a Zone 2 The main water body is Lake Albano, the Metropolitan City of Rome currently manages the lake. Up to 1802, it was the property of the Abbey of Saint Nilus Grottaferrata, the maximum elevation registered in the territory is 425 metres above sea level, at the Collegio di Propaganda Fide adjoining Villa Barberini. On the crown of the hills around the Lake Albano, the elevation is only 400 metres above sea level, at the summit of Monte Cucco, the lowest elevation of the territory is 101 metres above sea level at the village of Pavona. In terms of climate, the area falls within the domain of the temperate Mediterranean climate with mild winters, autumn temperatures higher than those of spring and ventilated summers. In the area of Colli Albani, and at Castel Gandolfo, the known as stau. Summers are hot and dry, while winter is mild and rainy without, in general, extreme low temperatures, in summer, temperatures can reach 35 °C with peaks of 37 °C in rare cases. Climate classification, Zone D,1966 GR / G, the name Castel Gandolfo is derived from the Latin Castrum Gandulphi, the name of the castle on this site was presumably owned by the family of Gandolfi, originally from Genoa. Another hypothesis, supported by Pope Pius II in his commentary, is that the results from Gandulphi Sabinorum. The modern city occupies the site of legendary ancient Alba Longa and it was later developed by emperor Domitian into his vast palace
3.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Roman College
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The Roman College was a school established by St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1551, just 17 years after he founded the Society of Jesus. It quickly grew to include classes from school through university level. It moved to different locations to accommodate its growing student population. The college, renamed Gregorian University in 1584 after its benefactor, since then the Gregorian University has occupied new quarters, but the buildings on this full square block memorialize the early commitment of the Society of Jesus to education. With the burgeoning student population the Jesuits in 1626 replaced the chapel of the Annunziata with the church of St. Ignatius on the premises, in 1787 the college added an observatory that became preeminent. With the Capture of Rome in 1870, the building was taken over by the Italian government, currently, its eastern wing houses the headquarters of the Ministry of Heritage and Culture and the wing that overlooks the square is home to the high school Ennio Quirino Visconti. The first university founded by the Jesuits was the College of Messina in 1548, the funding came from Francis Borgia, 4th Duke of Gandía. He had been a member of the Society of Jesus since 1548 but secretly, he retained his rank while attending to his obligations. In 1551 the Collegio Romano was a small, rented building at the base of the Capitoline Hill, polanco wrote of teaching Latin and Greek and later Hebrew, Christian doctrine is taught. Above the door of the school a sign says, a school of grammar, humanism. Jesuits were the first pupils, Edmond Auger, Emmanuel Gomez, John Egnazi, within its first year the building could not accommodate the influx of students and Ignatius sought a larger facility. Without leaving the center of Rome, in September 1551 he rented a building on Via del Gesù behind the ancient church of Santo Stefano del Cacco and this second home of the Roman College was called the House of Frangipani after the famous family which owned it. This then was the home of the Roman College. Despite the cost, Ignatius wanted to begin teaching philosophy and theology in the school year 1553–1554 and this increased the student body, both of Jesuits and externs. At this time also Ignatius founded the print shop which over the years introduced new typefaces, the Roman College was here for only four years when it became too small for the growing number of students and larger premises were sought. The building was demolished when Salviati built the new Roman College, in 1560, Vittoria della Tolfa, Marchesa della Valle, a relative of Paul IV, donated an entire city block and its existing buildings to the Society of Jesus. This remained the site of the Roman College until the takeover of its buildings by the Italian government in 1870, Ignatius of Loyola had died on 31 July 1556 and was succeeded by Fr. James P. Laynez, a companion of Ignatius and a papal theologian during the three periods of the Council of Trent
5.
Rome
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Rome is a special comune and the capital of Italy. Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region, with 2,873,598 residents in 1,285 km2, it is also the countrys largest and most populated comune and fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the center of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents, the city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio, along the shores of the Tiber. Romes history spans more than 2,500 years, while Roman mythology dates the founding of Rome at only around 753 BC, the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in Europe. The citys early population originated from a mix of Latins, Etruscans and it was first called The Eternal City by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called the Caput Mundi, due to that, Rome became first one of the major centres of the Italian Renaissance, and then the birthplace of both the Baroque style and Neoclassicism. Famous artists, painters, sculptors and architects made Rome the centre of their activity, in 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic. Rome has the status of a global city, Rome ranked in 2014 as the 14th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are among the worlds most visited tourist destinations with both locations receiving millions of tourists a year. Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is the seat of United Nations Food, however, it is a possibility that the name Romulus was actually derived from Rome itself. As early as the 4th century, there have been alternate theories proposed on the origin of the name Roma. There is archaeological evidence of occupation of the Rome area from approximately 14,000 years ago. Evidence of stone tools, pottery and stone weapons attest to about 10,000 years of human presence, several excavations support the view that Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill built above the area of the future Roman Forum. Between the end of the age and the beginning of the Iron age. However, none of them had yet an urban quality, nowadays, there is a wide consensus that the city was gradually born through the aggregation of several villages around the largest one, placed above the Palatine. All these happenings, which according to the excavations took place more or less around the mid of the 8th century BC. Despite recent excavations at the Palatine hill, the view that Rome has been indeed founded with an act of will as the legend suggests in the middle of the 8th century BC remains a fringe hypothesis. Traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves explain the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth
6.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
7.
Mount Graham International Observatory
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Mount Graham International Observatory is a division of Steward Observatory, the research arm for the Department of Astronomy at The University of Arizona, in the United States. It is located in southeastern Arizonas Pinaleño Mountains near Mount Graham, scientific researchers from around the world make use of the MGIO facilities. Construction of MGIO began in 1989, MGIO currently operates and maintains facilities for three scientific organizations. The first two telescopes, the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope and the Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter Telescope began operations in 1993, public tours of the MGIO are conducted by the Eastern Arizona Colleges Discovery Park Campus. Weather permitting, tours are allowed between mid-April and mid-October, reservations and permits must be obtained at least one week in advance through EACs Discovery Park Campus. For information about the tours, call +1-928-428-6260, or search for the Discovery Park Campus contact info on the Eastern Arizona College webpage, Large Binocular Telescope operated by the Large Binocular Telescope Corporation. Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter Telescope, operated by Arizona Radio Observatory, Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, operated by the Vatican Observatory. List of observatories Official website Mount Graham Clear Sky Clock Satellite Picture - Yahoo Maps Driving Directions Map
8.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
9.
Guy Consolmagno
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Brother Guy J. Consolmagno, SJ, is an American research astronomer and Director of the Vatican Observatory. After postdoctoral research and teaching at Harvard College Observatory and MIT, after his return he took a position as Assistant Professor at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. In 1989 he entered the Society of Jesus, and took vows as a brother in 1991. On entry into the order, he was assigned as an astronomer to the Vatican Observatory, where he serves as curator of the Vatican Meteorite collection. In addition to his professional work in planetary science, he has also studied philosophy. His research is centered on the connections between meteorites and asteroids, and the origin and evolution of small bodies in the solar system. In addition to over 40 refereed scientific papers, he has co-authored several books on astronomy for the popular market, during 1996, he took part in the Antarctic Search for Meteorites, ANSMET, where he discovered a number of meteorites on the ice fields of Antarctica. An asteroid was named in his honor by the International Astronomical Union, IAU in 2000,4597 Consolmagno and he believes in the need for science and religion to work alongside one another rather than as competing ideologies. Consolmagno was recently the Chair of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society, Consolmagno is a popular speaker as well as a writer of popular science. He was a participant in Scifoo in 2008 as well. He taught at Fordham University in New York City for the term of 2008. Consolmagno gave the speech at the 2013 Stellafane amateur telescope making convention on Aug 10. He appeared on The Colbert Report in December,2009 to promote his book, in May 2014, Consolmagno received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Georgetown University and spoke at the Georgetown College commencement ceremony. In 2010, he was a guest on On Being with Krista Tippett, alongside his friend, in the interview, Consolmagno and Coyne discussed their distinct and intimate relationships with science and faith. The show aired for a time in 2011, and for a third time in September 2015. Known as The Popes Astronomer, he was named by Pope Francis to be the Director of the Vatican Observatory in September 2015, worlds Apart Turn Left at Orion The Way to the Dwelling of Light Brother Astronomer, Adventures of a Vatican Scientist Review Intelligent Life in the Universe. Interview with Guy Consolmagno at Astrobiology Magazine, interview with Guy Consolmagno from Grace Cathedrals The Forum. A streaming video is also available, Guy Consolmagnos BBC radio series A Brief History Of The End Of Everything Guy Consolmagno, articolo in italiano su Cathopedia
Related media on Wikimedia Commons
Astronomical observatories in Italy